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Some alkyl ethoxylates (AEs), nonionic surfactants which are widely used in industry and in household cleaning products, have been demonstrated to produce acute neuropharmacologic effects when sufficient systemic exposure is achieved. An investigative program was undertaken to characterize these effects and to evaluate the neuropharmacologic potential of some AEs with specific chainlengths, both commercially available materials and a pure homologue, following accidental oral exposure. Results show that even these AEs can be used safely in household cleaning products when their pharmacological properties are taken into consideration. Intraperitoneal administration of aqueous solutions of AEs to rats resulted in a progressive and reversible syndrome of central nervous system excitation and depression (ataxia, loss of righting) that resembled the induction of and recovery from general anesthesia. Oral administration to rats and mice of aqueous solutions of AEs, alone or in combination with anionic surfactants and ethanol, at concentrations that approach or exceed the maximum expected in household products (10–25%), rarely induced general anesthesia and then only at very high dose volumes (10 ml/kg and above). Based on these results and the fact that products containing the AEs evaluated usually produce emesis in humans, it is concluded that: (i) AE‐induced general anesthesia is not predicted to occur in humans following accidental oral exposure to products containing both the AEs and anionic surfactants, and (ii) general anesthetic effects in humans following accidental oral exposure to products containing fairly high levels of the specific AEs as the nonionic surfactant would be expected to occur only in cases of extremely high volumes of accidental ingestion (≥10 ml/kg).

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