Polyacrylamide - Environmental Effects

Environmental Effects

Concerns have been raised that polyacrylamide used in agriculture may contaminate food with the nerve toxin acrylamide. While polyacrylamide itself is relatively non-toxic, it is known that commercially available polyacrylamide contains minute residual amounts of acrylamide remaining from its production, usually less than 0.05% w/w.

Additionally, there are concerns that polyacrylamide may de-polymerise to form acrylamide. In a study conducted in 2003 at the Central Science Laboratory in Sand Hutton, England, polyacrylamide was treated similarly as food during cooking. It was shown that these conditions do not cause polyacrylamide to de-polymerise significantly. California requires (current as of 2010) products containing acrylamide as an ingredient to be labeled with a statement that it is "a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer."

In a study conducted in 1997 at Kansas State University, the effect of environmental conditions on polyacrylamide were tested, and it was shown that degradation of polyacrylamide under certain conditions does in fact cause the release of acrylamide. The experimental design of this study as well as its results and their interpretation have been questioned, and a 1999 study by the Nalco Chemical Company did not replicate the results.