Fouling is the successive development of marine organisms on immersed surfaces, a process which has heavy negative economic impacts. Several antifouling technologies, generally based on the leaching of biocides from painted surfaces, have been developed, but these biocides are toxic to the environment. Hence, we compared the toxicity of several currently used paint lixiviats in rat hepatocytes, human HepG2 and HaCaT cells. Acute toxicity was assessed by the Neutral Red and MTT assays. Chronic effect was tested using induction of the 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity as a marker. Large variations were observed among the various cell types or the antifouling formulations, both in terms of IC50 values (from approximately 0.5 to approximately 10%, v/v) and EROD induction (from approximately 1 to 10-fold over control). These differences appear to be related to variable biocide (copper compounds, organotins, etc...) concentrations in the different paint formulations, or to the specific metabolic capabilities of the cell system used.