The application range of fluorescent whitening agents is quite extensive and expanding day by day, and their whitening effect is very significant, which is incomparable to general blue and bleaching. At the same time, with the increasing awareness of environmental protection and health among people, the issue of whether fluorescent whitening agents are harmful to human health under usage conditions has also attracted increasing attention in textiles that have been whitened with fluorescent whitening agents, as well as non textiles such as paper, detergents, soap, and plastics that contain fluorescent whitening agents.
In some reports, some people often raise various doubts about the environmental safety of fluorescent whitening agents, have a fear of substances that emit fluorescence, and mistakenly believe that substances that emit fluorescence are harmful to the human body. Therefore, detergents, soap, and clothes washed with fluorescent whitening agents have become objects of suspicion. In fact, there is no correlation between whether a substance emits fluorescence and whether it is toxic. Because substances that emit fluorescence are widely present in nature, fluorescence is not only present in natural substances, but also in vitamins A, B2, B12, proteins, tryptophan, tyrosine, and hormones. These substances are absorbed by people every day as essential nutrients and to maintain life, but people have no doubt or concern about it. This also indicates that there is no relationship between toxicity and fluorescence, and the view that substances with fluorescence are harmful to the human body is unfounded.
In fact, regarding the safety of fluorescent whitening agents for humans and other animals and plants, and their impact on the environment Quality Inspection and Environmental Protection Issues of Fluorescent Brightening Agent Products
The issue of friendliness has been widely discussed since the application of fluorescent whitening agents, and it can be said that it has been a topic of concern and research for many years. Among them, H Mr. Baron's article on the harm of fluorescent whitening agents to human health is particularly prominent. The main content of the discussion includes the potential incompatibility between fluorescent whitening agents and direct skin contact, especially special sensitization reactions, possible allergic and photoallergic reactions, and other potential hazards, such as delaying blood clotting, inhibiting wound healing and mutagenicity, namely genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. These concerns have been repeatedly reiterated to this day, some of which are not based on facts but on initial assumptions or unconfirmed descriptions, and some have been refuted by later experiments.
The initial research report believed that fluorescent whitening agents may have carcinogenic potential mainly because the chemical structure of the main raw material, 4,4 '- diaminodiphenylene-2,2' - disulfonic acid, of the styrene series fluorescent whitening agents was similar to that of carcinogenic substances shown in animal experiments, which raised doubts and concerns about the styrene series fluorescent whitening agents.
Another misconception about the safety of fluorescent whitening agents is due to unfairly linking toxic and harmful intermediates with their derivatives, believing that intermediates are toxic and harmful, and then their derivatives are toxic and harmful. It is unscientific to assume that fluorescent whitening agents synthesized from melamine, DSD acid, and other intermediates are toxic and harmful, as melamine can corrode the skin and nasal mucosa and cause eczema in contact with the skin. Similarly, coumarins, which are inherently harmless, are also used as rodenticides
