Toxicology and Health Aspects

As far as toxicology is concerned, one must distinguish between soot, which is formed by the uncontrolled combustion of coal and oil, and carbon black, which is industrially produced under precisely defined conditions. Commercial carbon blacks are characterized by an atomic ratio H C of 0.1, low ash content, and high adsorption capacity. The soluble organic fraction (extractable materials) is less than 0.5 wt%. 

The chimney-sweeper cancer described by P. Pott in England as early as 1775, which is basically related to soot but not to carbon black, was the starting point of intensive research on analytical test methods for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in carbon blacks. Increasingly refined test methods have been developed (e.g., column, thin-layer, and paper chromatography, gas chromatography, UV and fluorescence spectrophotometry, and mass spectroscopy) to detect traces of such substances and to investigate the ability of carbon black surfaces to adsorb and to desorb PAHs. 

Many years of experience in the carbon black producing and processing industry have clearly shown that there is no health hazard attributable to this product. Allegations occasionally being made to the effect that carbon blacks impair human health, could be refuted. In most cases it was possible to attribute these claims to a confusion between carbon blacks and soot or coal dust. Carbon black differs markedly from soot, the unwanted, uncontrolled by-product of combustion found in chimneys and the ambient air [4.36], [4.37]. 

Detailed studies of workers in the carbon black industry and among carbon black consumers in the USA and Europe have shown that carbon black causes neither structural damages of the lungs nor lung tumours. No association between cumula- 

Dangerous materials other than PAHs, such as polychlorinated bi- and ter-phenols, polychlorinated dioxins and polychlorinated hydrofurans were not found in carbon blacks. Nitrosamines could not be detected in carbon black, but they may be formed in rubber compounds, if rubber chemicals containing secondary amines are used. The total amine content of carbon black is less than 0.01 % and the aromatic amine content is therefore less than this. No heavy metal is present in amounts above 0.002 %. Carbon blacks therefore conform to all known regulations that limit these impurities. 

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WHO/FAO. 2010. Joint FAOAVHO expert meeting to review toxicological and health aspects of bisphenol A and stakeholder meeting, Ottawa, Canada, November 1-5, 2010. Geneva World Health Organization. 

Sorbic acid is metabolized to carbon dioxide and water ia the same way as other fatty acids, releasiag 27.6 kj/g sorbate (6.6 kcal/g) (165). As a result of the favorable toxicological and physiological aspects, the World Health Organization (WHO) has allowed sorbic acid at the highest acceptable daily iatake of all food preservatives, 25 mg/kg body weight (178). 

Madhavi, L.D., Singhal, S.R., and KuUcavni, R.P. Technological aspects of foods antioxidants (ed. L.D. Madhavi), Food Antioxidants Technological Toxicological and Health Perspectives. Marcel Dekker, New York. 1996. 

Toxicological and carcinogenic aspects are very important for plasticizers destined to be used in toy manufacture but they are not known at this time for most of these plasticizers to ensure their safe use in this application. Presently known facts seem to indicate that some of the plasticizers may be potentially useful to replace phthalates. A report prepared for the European Commission Directorate-General Enterprise indicates a lower health risk with acetyl tributyl citrate, ATBC. It was also reported that the substitution of phthalates by benzoates (such as the diethylene glycol dibenzoate), alkylsulfonic phenyl esters, and possibly some adipates, trimellitates, sebacates and azelates should reduce health hazards however it is also recognized that the information available for DOA and ATBC is much less extensive than that available for phthalates. 

If you are also interested in the toxicity and health effects of mustard gas, searching the medical literature is the next step. Medline thoroughly indexes the medical literature, and it contains a great deal of information on the biochemical, toxicological, and clinical aspects of this poison. Medline is included in SciFinder, where it can be searched simultaneously with Chemical Abstracts. The free version of Medline is called PubMed. 

Scientists skilled in epidemiology, toxicology, and related disciplines collect and evaluate all of the scientific literature containing information regarding the types of toxic effect the chemical under review has been shown to produce. Toxic effects include one or more of the many manifestations of toxicity described earlier in this book. The list of adverse health effects produced by the chemical are said to constitute its toxic hazards, and the critical review and evaluation leading to the list is the hazard identification step. A discussion of the extent to which causal associations with human disease or toxic harm have been established is an important aspect of this step. 

Raithel HJ, Schaller KH, Reith A, et al. 1988. Investigations on the quantitative determination of nickel and chromium in human lung tissue industrial medical toxicological and occupational medical expertise aspects. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 60 55-66. 

Change can be expected in almost every aspect of both the applied and the fundamental aspects of toxicology. Risk communication, risk assessment, hazard and exposure assessment, in vivo toxicity, development of selective chemicals, in vitro toxicology, and biochemical and molecular toxicology will all change, as will the integration of all of these areas into new paradigms of risk assessment and of the ways in which chemicals affect human health and the environment. 

Korallus U. 1986b. Chromium compounds Occupational health, toxicological and biological monitoring aspects. Toxicol Environ Chem 12 47-59. 

The publication of the results of clinical trials and preclinical research has resulted in the general understanding that biopharmaceuticals can be toxic as well as beneficial in humans and animals and that many aspects of their toxicity can be studied with relevance in animals. Toxicology as a science has benefited from this experience in many ways by improved and widely applicable understanding of basic biological mechanisms of health and disease and the introduction of novel methods to detect and assess effects. Case-by-case assessment based on science encourages scientific advancement in toxicology and infuses excitement and quality research into safety assessment. 

Toxicology and Occupational Health Aspects of Hydrogen Peroxide... 

Rodnitzky, R.L. 1974. Neurological and behavioral aspects of occupational exposure to organophosphate pesticides. In Behavioral Toxicology Early Detection of Occupational Hazards. C. Xintaras, B.L. Johnson and I. de Groot, eds. Center for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Washington, DC. pp. 165-174. 

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