The harm of fluorescent whitening agent to human body

Fluorescent brightener is a white dye that is often used in our daily lives, but many people don’t know much about it. Fluorescent brighteners are mostly used in plastics, leather, and detergents, especially detergents. Many people are worried that frequent contact with this substance will have a major impact on our health. So, what are the hazards of fluorescent whitening agents to the human body? Let’s take a look below.

Fluorescent whitening agent is an optical whitening agent, and its whitening effect utilizes the principle of optical complementary colors. When fluorescent whitening agents are attached to mushrooms, paper, clothes, and faces, they can not only reflect visible light, but also absorb ultraviolet light outside of visible light and convert it into purple-blue visible light and reflect it out. Not only does it increase the reflectivity, but the blue light is also complementary to the yellow-brown color of the object itself, offsetting the original yellow-brown color and making paper, clothes, and faces become white and pleasing to the eye. Under normal lighting, the human eye perceives that the whiteness and brightness of objects have increased. Under ultraviolet light of 254nm and 365nm, the true colors are revealed, blue light appears, and purple or blue-purple fluorescence can be seen.

Current domestic and foreign literature on the toxicity of fluorescent whitening agents shows that their toxicity is still controversial, including irritation to mucous membranes, delayed wound healing, carcinogenicity and teratogenicity, which require more in-depth laboratory experiments and more extensive epidemiological observations. It is generally accepted that the use of fluorescent whitening agents is safe.

Therefore, there is no need to make a fuss about exercise books containing fluorescent whitening agents. Of course, I firmly believe that they can be eliminated and I support the idea that they should not be used. However, we should also rationally acknowledge that the presence of fluorescent whitening agents does not necessarily poison children. We can make a comparison this way: the fluorescent whitening agent contact while doing homework is not a big deal compared to the large-area, close-up contact with fluorescent whitening agents on clothes, right? As for the latter, the current consensus among the authorities is that there is no health risk.

However, I have to say that some heterocyclic fluorescent whitening agents will produce dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, which are environmental hormones with clear toxicity, during their production process. If they are not properly handled, then for this reason alone, it is difficult to say that fluorescent whitening agents, an industrial sensory cosmetic, can sit back and relax. Especially since my country is a major producer of fluorescent whitening agents, we should be able to plan ahead, stand higher and see farther, and worry about the world before we worry about ourselves. At the very least, we should strictly regulate the production process.

Fluorescent brighteners are not allowed in food, food packaging and paper towels

All food packaging paper, including moon cakes, sesame cakes, bacon, and candies, must not use fluorescent brighteners. The use of paper towels for daily use is also prohibited in our country. This is mainly to prevent manufacturers from using recycled paper to make paper towels and abusing fluorescent brighteners. Most foreign paper towel standards do not have this provision, simply because people fully trust that manufacturers will operate in a standardized manner and will not have such a petty idea.

In short, regardless of whether eating them will cause harm to your health, food and its packaging, as well as paper towels, are not allowed to be used, and using them is illegal.