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Thallium selenite (CASRN 12039-52-0)

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0115

Thallium selenite; CASRN 12039-52-0

Health assessment information on a chemical substance is included in IRIS only after a comprehensive review of chronic toxicity data by U.S. EPA health scientists from several Program Offices and the Office of Research and Development. The summaries presented in Sections I and II represent a consensus reached in the review process. Background information and explanations of the methods used to derive the values given in IRIS are provided in the Background Documents.

STATUS OF DATA FOR Thallium selenite

File First On-Line 01/31/1987

Category (section)
Status
Last Revised
Oral RfD Assessment (I.A.) withdrawn 07/01/1996
Inhalation RfC Assessment (I.B.) no data
Carcinogenicity Assessment (II.) on-line 09/01/1990

_I.  Chronic Health Hazard Assessments for Noncarcinogenic Effects

_I.A. Reference Dose for Chronic Oral Exposure (RfD)

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0

The Oral RfD for this substance has been withdrawn by the RfD/RfC Work Group. An inadequate data file is in preparation.

Agency Work Group Review — 08/05/1985, 04/21/1988, 03/22/1989, 07/22/1993

EPA Contacts:

Please contact the IRIS Hotline for all questions concerning this assessment or IRIS, in general, at (202)566-1676 (phone), (202)566-1749 (FAX) or hotline.iris@epa.gov (internet address).

Screening-Level Literature Review Findings — A screening-level review conducted by an EPA contractor of the more recent toxicology literature pertinent to the RfD for thallium selenite conducted in August 2003 did not identify any critical new studies. IRIS users who know of important new studies may provide that information to the IRIS Hotline at hotline.iris@epa.gov or 202-566-1676.

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_I.B. Reference Concentration for Chronic Inhalation Exposure (RfC)

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0

Not available at this time.


_II.  Carcinogenicity Assessment for Lifetime Exposure

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0
Last Revised — 09/01/1990

Section II provides information on three aspects of the carcinogenic assessment for the substance in question; the weight-of-evidence judgment of the likelihood that the substance is a human carcinogen, and quantitative estimates of risk from oral exposure and from inhalation exposure. The quantitative risk estimates are presented in three ways. The slope factor is the result of application of a low-dose extrapolation procedure and is presented as the risk per (mg/kg)/day. The unit risk is the quantitative estimate in terms of either risk per ug/L drinking water or risk per ug/cu.m air breathed. The third form in which risk is presented is a drinking water or air concentration providing cancer risks of 1 in 10,000, 1 in 100,000 or 1 in 1,000,000. The rationale and methods used to develop the carcinogenicity information in IRIS are described in The Risk Assessment Guidelines of 1986 (EPA/600/8-87/045) and in the IRIS Background Document. IRIS summaries developed since the publication of EPA's more recent Proposed Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment also utilize those Guidelines where indicated (Federal Register 61(79):17960-18011, April 23, 1996). Users are referred to Section I of this IRIS file for information on long-term toxic effects other than carcinogenicity.

_II.A. Evidence for Human Carcinogenicity

__II.A.1. Weight-of-Evidence Characterization

Classification — D; not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity

Basis — Based on the lack of carcinogenicity data in animals and humans.

__II.A.2. Human Carcinogenicity Data

Inadequate. Medical records for 86 workers (sex and length of employment not reported) occupationally exposed to thallium at a magnesium seawater battery factory and 79 unexposed workers matched for age, length of employment, shift pattern, and type of work were examined (Marcus, 1985). No increase in incidence of benign neoplasms (site not specified) were observed. This study is limited by the examination of medical records only, lack of exposure quantitation, the small cohort, and unknown length of observation.

In another study, the health effects associated with exposure to thallium in 128 men (age 16 to 62 years) exposed for 1 to 42 years (average=19.5 years) in three cement manufacturing plants were reported (Schaller et al., 1980). Analyses of roasted pyrites and electro-filter dust confirmed the presence of thallium in various production areas in the plants. Urinary thallium was elevated in the workers. The health evaluation, consisting of a medical history and a physical exam, did not show any indication of thallium poisoning. However, this health evaluation was not adequate to detect any oncogenic response.

__II.A.3. Animal Carcinogenicity Data

None. Several subchronic and chronic animal studies on thallium and compounds are available; however, they were not designed to examine carcinogenic endpoints (reviewed in U.S. EPA, 1988).

__II.A.4. Supporting Data for Carcinogenicity

Thallium (I) salts were not mutagenic in reverse mutation assays using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA100, TA1535,and TA1538 and Escherichia coli strains B/r WP2 try and WP2 hcr try; use of hepatic homogenates was not specified (Kanematsu et al., 1980). Positive results were obtained at 0.001M for thallium nitrate in the Rec assay using Bacillus subtilis strains H17 and M45; use of hepatic homogenates was not specified (Kanematsu\et\al., 1980; Kada et al., 1980). Negative results were obtained in a screening of thallium nitrate for induction of mitotic gene coversion and reverse mutation in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Singh, 1983). Thallium nitrate produced negative effects on cell division in S. cerevisiae and E. coli. (Loveless et al., 1954). Cytotoxic levels (1000 ug/mL) of thallium acetate caused depressed DNA synthesis in Chinese hamster ovary cells (Garrett and Lewtas, 1983). Single-strand DNA breaks occurred in mouse and rat embryo fibroblasts exposed to thallium carbonate at E-6 to E-4M (Zasukhina et al., 1983). Thallium carbonate (0.5-0.005 ug/kg/day) was positive in a dominant lethal test in male white rats (Zasukhina et al., 1983).

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_II.B. Quantitative Estimate of Carcinogenic Risk from Oral Exposure

None.

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_II.C. Quantitative Estimate of Carcinogenic Risk from Inhalation Exposure

None.

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_II.D. EPA Documentation, Review, and Contacts (Carcinogenicity Assessment)

__II.D.1. EPA Documentation

Source Document — U.S. EPA, 1988

The 1988 Health and Environmental Effects Document for Thallium and Compounds is a preliminary draft and has not received Agency Review.

__II.D.2. EPA Review (Carcinogenicity Assessment)

Agency Work Group Review — 11/08/1989

Verification Date — 11/08/1989

Screening-Level Literature Review Findings — A screening-level review conducted by an EPA contractor of the more recent toxicology literature pertinent to the cancer assessment for thallium selenite conducted in August 2003 did not identify any critical new studies. IRIS users who know of important new studies may provide that information to the IRIS Hotline at hotline.iris@epa.gov or 202-566-1676.

__II.D.3. EPA Contacts (Carcinogenicity Assessment)

Please contact the IRIS Hotline for all questions concerning this assessment or IRIS, in general, at (202)566-1676 (phone), (202)566-1749 (FAX) or hotline.iris@epa.gov (internet address).

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_VI.  Bibliography

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0
Last Revised — 08/01/1993

_VI.A. Oral RfD References

Not available at this time.

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_VI.B. Inhalation RfC References

None

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_VI.C. Carcinogenicity Assessment References

Garrett, N.E. and J. Lewtas. 1983. Cellular toxicity in Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures. I. Analysis of cytotoxicity endpoints for twenty-nine priority pollutants. Environ. Res. 32: 455-465.

Kada, T., K. Hirano and Y. Shirasu. 1980. Screening of environmental chemical mutagens by the Rec-assay system with Bacillus subtilis. In: Chemical Mutagens: Principles and Methods for Their Detection, F. deSerrres and A. Hollaender, Ed. 6: 149-173.

Kanematsu, N., M. Hara and T. Kada. 1980. Rec assay and mutagenicity studies on metal compounds. Mutat. Res. 77: 109-116.

Loveless, L.E., E. Spoerl and T.H. Weisman. 1954. A survey of effects of chemicals on division and growth of yeast and Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 68: 637-644.

Marcus, R.L. 1985. Investigation of a working population exposed to thallium. J. Soc. Occup. Med. 35(1): 4-9.

Schaller, K.H., G. Manke, H.J. Raithel, G. Buhlmeyer, M. Schmidt and H. Valentin. 1980. Investigations of thallium-exposed workers in cement factories. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health. 47(3): 223-231.

Singh, I. 1983. Induction of reverse mutation and mitotic gene conversion by some metal compounds in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mutat. Res. 117: 149-152.

U.S. EPA. 1988. Health and Environmental Effects Document for Thallium and Compounds. Prepared by the Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Cincinnati, OH, for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Washington, DC.

Zasukhina, G.D., I.M. Vasilyeva, N.I. Sdirkova, et al. 1983. Mutagenic effect of thallium and mercury salts on rodent cells with different repair activities. Mutat. Res. 124(2): 163-173.

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_VII.  Revision History

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0

Date
Section
Description
03/31/1987 I.A.6. Documentation corrected
06/30/1988 I.A. RfD withdrawn
09/07/1988 I.A. Revised oral RfD summary added
05/01/1989 I.A. Oral RfD summary noted as pending change
06/01/1989 I.A.6. Work group review dates revised
06/01/1989 I.A.7. Secondary contact changed
09/01/1990 I.A. Text edited
09/01/1990 II. Carcinogen assessment on-line
09/01/1990 IV.F.1. EPA contact changed
09/01/1990 VI. Bibliography on-line
08/01/1991 VI.C. Kada et al. citation corrected
01/01/1992 IV. Regulatory actions updated
08/01/1993 I.A. Withdrawn; inadequate data
08/01/1993 I.A. Work group review date added
08/01/1993 I.A. EPA contact changed
08/01/1993 VI.A. Oral RfD references withdrawn
08/01/1995 I.A., I.A.6.,
VI.A.
EPA's RfD/RfC and CRAVE workgroups were discontinued in May, 1995. Chemical substance reviews that were not completed by September 1995 were taken out of IRIS review. The IRIS Pilot Program replaced the workgroup functions beginning in September, 1995.
07/01/1996 I.A. Contact changed
04/01/1997 III., IV., V. Drinking Water Health Advisories, EPA Regulatory Actions, and Supplementary Data were removed from IRIS on or before April 1997. IRIS users were directed to the appropriate EPA Program Offices for this information.
10/28/2003 I.A., II.D.2. Screening-Level Literature Review Findings message has been added.

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_VIII.  Synonyms

Substance Name — Thallium selenite
CASRN — 12039-52-0
Last Revised — 01/31/1987

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