Early Life Stage (ELS) Toxicity of Sucralose to Fathead Minnows, Pimephales promelas

Sucralose, an intense artificial sweetener, has been detected in wastewater and surface waters at concentrations ranging from ng/L to low µg/L. Although over a hundred studies have been conducted to evaluate the safety of sucralose for human consumption, few studies have focused on the chronic ecotoxicological effects of this compound in fish. As a remedy to this data gap, an early-life stage toxicity test was conducted to assess the effects of sucralose on hatching, survival, and growth of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas). Hatching, survival, and growth were unaffected by 98 mg/L of sucralose. The Lowest-Observed-Effect Concentration (LOEC) and the No-Observed-Effect Concentration (NOEC) for fathead minnows determined by this study are >98 and 98 mg/L, respectively. The results from this study suggest that the concentrations of sucralose detected in the environment are well below those required to cause adverse effects to developing aquatic organisms.