Toxicity Study of Textile Materials from Natural and Synthetic Polymers Using Bioassay Techniques: Sperm Motility Inhibition Test and Daphnia magna Acute Immobility Test

Abstract

Abstract Toxic characterization of textiles in relation to human health hazards is a challenging issue. 11 textile materials were tested by two methods for assessing toxicity of textile materials: sperm motility inhibition test (with bull spermatozoa) and Daphnia magna acute immobility test (with Daphnia magna Straus). The paper provides a comparative analysis of the advantages of each method for determining toxicity. It was proved that the toxicity assessment of textiles’ extracts based on the immobilisation of daphnids was characterized by comparable sensitivity and more simplicity of execution than the toxicity test by means of bull semen. It was shown that the presence of dyes and synthetic fibres had a major impact on the textiles’ toxicity. The aqueous extracts from uniformly dyed textiles were characterized by higher level of toxicity compared to the non-dyed ones (a toxicity index by motility inhibition test was 37-62%, an acute immobility parameter by D.magna test – 100% with reference to the control uncontaminated media).