1.1 What is di-n-octylphthalate? |
1.2 What happens to di-n-octylphthalate
when it enters the environment? |
1.3 How might I be exposed to di-n-octylphthalate? |
1.4 How can di-n-octylphthalate
enter and leave my body? |
1.5 How can di-n-octylphthalate
affect my health? |
1.6 Is there a medical test to determine
whether I have been exposed to di-n-octylphthalate? |
1.7 What recommendations has the federal
government made to protect human health? |
1.8 Where can I get more information? |
References |
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September 1997 |
Public Health Statement |
for |
Di-n-octylphthalate (DNOP) |
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This Public Health Statement is the
summary chapter from the Toxicological
Profile for di-n-octylphthalate (DNOP). It is one
in a series of Public Health Statements about hazardous substances
and their health effects. A shorter version, the ToxFAQs™,
is also available. This information is important because this
substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous
substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed,
personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are
present. For more information, call the ATSDR Information
Center at 1-888-422-8737.
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This Statement was prepared to give you
information about di-n-octylphthalate and to emphasize
the human health effects that may result from exposure to
it. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified
1,416 hazardous waste sites as the most serious in the nation.
These sites make up the National Priorities List (NPL) and
are the sites targeted for long-term federal cleanup activities.
Di-n-octylphthalate has been found in at least 300
of the sites on the NPL. However, the number of NPL sites
evaluated for di-n-octylphthalate is not known. As
EPA evaluates more sites, the number of sites at which di-n-octylphthalate
is found may increase. This information is important because
exposure to di-n-octylphthalate may cause harmful health
effects and because these sites are potential or actual sources
of human exposure to di-n-octylphthalate.
When a substance is released from a large
area, such as an industrial plant, or from a container, such
as a drum or bottle, it enters the environment. This release
does not always lead to exposure. You can be exposed to a
substance only when you come in contact with it. You may be
exposed by breathing, eating, or drinking substances containing
the substance or by skin contact with it.
If you are exposed to a substance such
as di-n-octylphthalate, many factors will determine
whether harmful health effects will occur and what the type
and severity of those health effects will be. These factors
include the dose (how much), the duration (how long), the
route or pathway by which you are exposed (breathing, eating,
drinking, or skin contact), the other chemicals to which you
are exposed, and your individual characteristics such as age,
gender, nutritional status, family traits, life-style, and
state of health.
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1.1
What is di-n-octylphthalate? |
Di-n-octylphthalate, also known
as dioctyl phthalate, is a colorless, odorless, oily liquid.
It does not evaporate easily. There is no evidence that di-n-octylphthalate
occurs naturally in the environment. Di-n-octylphthalate
is manufactured for many uses. It is commonly used as a plasticizer
(a substance added to plastics to keep them soft or more flexible).
These plastics are found in products such as carpetback coating,
packaging films, medical tubing and blood storage bags, floor
tile, wire, cables, and adhesives. Di-n-octylphthalate
is also used in cosmetics and pesticides.
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1.2
What happens to di-n-octylphthalate when it enters the
environment? |
Di-n-octylphthalate may enter
the environment in industrial waste waters, air emissions,
and solid wastes from manufacturing and processing operations,
from evaporation of the compound from plastics, from the burning
of plastic products, and by leaking from plastics in landfills
into soil or water, including groundwater. Di-n-octylphthalate
is expected to stick tightly to soil, sediment, and dust particles
once it is released to the environment. If released to the
atmosphere, the compound may be deposited on the ground or
to surface water in rain or dust particles. Small amounts
of the compound can build up in animals that live in water,
such as fish and oysters. The compound breaks down into other
products mainly by the action of microorganisms. Additional
ways di-n-octylphthalate is transformed into other
substances include reaction with sunlight and other chemicals
present in the atmosphere, reaction with water, and breakdown
of the compound in surface waters by sunlight.
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1.3
How might I be exposed to di-n-octylphthalate? |
You may be exposed to di-n-octylphthalate
by eating foods contaminated with any of the compound that
has leaked from plastic containers, by eating certain foods,
such as fish, that have built up high levels of the compound,
and by drinking contaminated water. You may also be exposed
to di-n-octylphthalate during medical treatments such
as blood transfusions and dialysis that use equipment made
of plastics containing di-n-octylphthalate. In addition,
if you live near a hazardous waste site or an industrial manufacturing
or processing facility, you may be exposed through contact
with air, water, or soil that may have been contaminated around
these sites. Little information is available about the concentrations
of di-n-octylphthalate in air, water, or soil. The
compound has been measured at 0.06 0.94 parts di-n-octylphthalate
per trillion parts of air (ppt), in rain at 2.6 20 ppt, in
river water at 1 310 ppt, and in sediment at less than 5 25,000
ppt.
Workers in the chemicals and plastics
industries may also be exposed to di-n-octylphthalate.
The National Occupational Exposure Survey estimated that 10,393
individuals were exposed to the compound in the workplace
in 1980.
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1.4
How can di-n-octylphthalate enter and leave my body? |
Di-n-octylphthalate can enter
your body when you drink water or eat food containing it.
We do not know if di-n-octylphthalate enters your body
when you breathe air containing it or when it comes in contact
with your skin. It is possible that exposure could occur near
hazardous waste sites, at manufacturing facilities, or through
the use of consumer products containing the substance. We
do not know how much you will absorb if you eat or drink it.
Di-n-octylphthalate can also enter
your body during medical treatment through the use of plastic
tubing or storage bags contaminated with di-n-octylphthalate.
Once it enters your body, it breaks down into other chemicals
and the health effects of some of these chemicals are not
well understood. Di-n-octylphthalate and its breakdown
products will leave your body mostly in your urine, but we
do not know how quickly that happens. We do not know if the
compound or its breakdown products will remain in the tissues.
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1.5
How can di-n-octylphthalate affect my health? |
No information is available regarding
the possible effects caused by di-n-octylphthalate
if you breathe, eat, drink, or have skin contact with it.
Furthermore, there is no information on the effects of breathing
di-n-octylphthalate in laboratory animals. Di-n-octylphthalate
has caused death in some rats and mice given very high doses
by mouth. Mildly harmful effects have been seen in the livers
of some rats and mice given very high doses of di-n-octylphthalate
by mouth for short or intermediate durations of time. Brief
oral exposures to lower doses of di-n-octylphthalate
generally caused no harmful effects.
We have no information on the health
effects of di-n-octylphthalate when applied to the
skin of humans for long periods of time. Di-n-octylphthalate
can be mildly irritating when applied to the skin of animals.
It can also be slightly irritating when put directly into
the eyes of animals.
We do not know if di-n-octylphthalate
causes cancer in humans or animals. Unlike other phthalates
such as di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, di-n-octylphthalate
does not appear to affect the ability of male animals to father
offspring [see ATSDR toxicological profile
for di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate for more information on
this chemical]. Some birth defects occurred in newborn rats
whose mothers received high doses (approximately 5 grams per
kilogram of body weight [5 g/kg]) of di-n-octylphthalate
by injection during pregnancy. However, humans are not exposed
to di-n-octylphthalate this way, and no harmful effects
on developing fetuses were seen when mice were given this
chemical by mouth.
Di-n-octylphthalate has not been
classified for carcinogenic effects by the Department of Health
and Human Services, the International Agency for Research
on Cancer, or the EPA.
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1.6
Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed
to di-n-octylphthalate? |
Di-n-octylphthalate and its principal
breakdown products can be measured in urine, blood, and tissues.
However, the information available on these tests is so limited
that it is not possible to know if they are specific for di-n-octylphthalate,
if they can be used to determine how much you were exposed
to, if they can predict whether harmful health effects will
occur, or how long the test is useful after exposure occurs.
These tests are not available in doctors' offices.
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1.7
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect
human health? |
The government has developed guidelines
for di-n-octylphthalate. These are designed to protect
the public from the possible harmful health effects of the
chemical. However, EPA has recently determined that there
is not enough evidence to say that di-n-octylphthalate
definitely causes harmful effects in humans or to the environment.
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1.8 Where can I get more information? |
If you have any more questions or concerns, please contact
your community or state health or environmental quality department or:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Toxicology
1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32
Atlanta, GA 30333
Information line and technical assistance:
Phone: 888-422-8737
FAX: (770)-488-4178
ATSDR can also tell you the location of occupational and environmental health
clinics. These clinics specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and treating illnesses
resulting from exposure to hazardous substances.
To order toxicological profiles, contact:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Phone: 800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000
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References |
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR). 1997. Toxicological
profile for di-n-octylphthalate. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
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