Inhalants cleaning agents

Some people find the effects of solvents on the nervous system desirable and purposely inhale (sniff) solvents to induce a form of intoxication. In the United States approximately 15% of high school students have tried solvent inhalation at least once. Solvents suitable for inhalation and abuse are common in the home. Home products that may contain solvents include paints, paint remover, varnishes, adhesives, glues, degreasing and cleaning agents, dyes, printing ink, floor and shoe polishes, waxes, pesticides, drugs, cosmetics, and fuels, just to name a few (Table 11.1). 

Use naturally occurring (mold, radon) and purchased household products (medicines, pesticides, cleaning agents, paint, mercury thermometers) Source natural and manufactured Recommended daily intake usually not recommended Absorption skin, oral, inhalation... 

A form of substance abuse of increasing interest is the recreational use of inhalants. Taken literally, this classification is useless, as it may be construed to include use of tobacco, crack cocaine, or marijuana (Sharp 1992). A better designation may be "volatile substance" abuse, a more accurate description of an important drug abuse pattern. Volatile substances that are commonly abused include glues, aerosols, anesthetics, cleaning agents, and solvents (Sharp 1992). Abuse of inhalants has been associated with a variety of toxicologies... 

Neurotoxicity. The only information on neurological effects in humans exposed to 2-butoxyethanol is that humans exposed experimentally by inhalation experienced headache and disturbed taste sensation (Carpenter et al. 1956), and that people who intentionally ingested household cleaning agents containing 2-butoxyethanol became comatose (Bauer et al. 1992 Gijsenbergh et al. 1989 Litovitz et al. 1991 Rambourg-Schepens et al. 1988). 

EXPOSURE ROUTES Inhalation (air from disposal in landfills, air from accidental production and uses, cleaning agents, building materials) ingestion (contaminated drinking water) exposure during manufacture. 

A vast number of compounds produce irritant effects when inhaled in their gaseous form. The most common source of exposure to irritant gases is in industry, but significant exposures may occur in a variety of circumstances, such as after mixing cleaning agents at home, with smoke inhalation in stmclural fires, or after highway tanker spills. 

Exposure to cleaning agents in the workplace is usually by inhalation of vapors or mists, or by contact with skin or eyes. The most common effect on health after exposure is irritation— pain and inflammation, sometimes accompanied by redness and swelling—of the skin, eyes, or respiratory tract. Follow these guidelines when working with any cleaning agent ... 

Several military bases contaminated with chemical-warfare agents as a result of storage and past disposal practices are slated to be closed pursuant to the Base Realignment and Closure Act. Before those military bases can be transferred to civilian use, contaminated soil and water must be cleaned to levels that are considered safe. To help make decisions on restoration required at contaminated sites and on the potential uses of the former military installations (e.g., for housing, occupational, or wildlife purposes), the U.S. Army developed interim chronic oral reference doses and, where appropriate, oral slope factors for six chemical-warfare agents that are likely to be encountered at contaminated sites. Similar information for inhalation exposure is under development. 

Cr(VI) is probably the most widely used and versatile laboratory oxidizing agent and is used in a number of different forms to carry out selective oxidations in this text. But from an environmental standpoint, it is far from ideal. Inhalation of the dust from insoluble Cr(VI) compounds can lead to cancer of the respiratory system. The product of the reaction (Cr(III)) should not be flushed down the drain because it is toxic to aquatic life at extremely low concentrations, so, as stated in the Cleaning Up section of the dichromate oxidation experiment, the Cr(III) must be precipitated as insoluble Cr(OH)j, and this material dealt with as a hazardous waste. 

A primary pathway for trichloroethane exposure is by inhalation of contaminated air both indoors (from building materials, aerosols, cleaning products, paints, or metals degreasing agents) and outdoors near industrial sites or accidental releases. Other routes of exposure include ingesting contaminated water or food or through the skin upon dermal contact. 

---