1.1 What are jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7? |
1.2 What happens to jet fuels JP-4 and
JP-7 when they enter the environment? |
1.3 How might I be exposed to jet fuels
JP-4 and JP-7? |
1.4 How can jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 enter
and leave my body? |
1.5 How can jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 affect
my health? |
1.6 Is there a medical test to determine
whether I have been exposed to jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7? |
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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June 1995 |
Public Health Statement |
for |
Jet Fuels JP-4 and JP-7 |
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CAS#
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JP-4 50815-00-4 |
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JP-7 N/A |
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This Public Health Statement is the
summary chapter from the Toxicological
Profile for jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7. 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 jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 and to emphasize
the human health effects that may result from exposure to
them. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has
identified 1,397 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
clean-up activities. JP-4 has been found in at
least 4 of these sites. JP-7 has not been found in any
NPL site. However, the number of NPL sites evaluated
for JP-4 and JP-7 is not known. As EPA evaluates more
sites, the number of sites at which JP-4 and JP-7 are found
may increase. This information is important for you
to know because JP-4 and JP-7 may cause harmful health effects
and because these sites are potential or actual sources of
human exposure to JP-4 and JP-7.
When a chemical 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 as a chemical
emission. This emission, which is also called a release,
does not always lead to exposure. You can be exposed
to a chemical only when you come into contact with the chemical.
You may be exposed to it in the environment by breathing,
eating, or drinking substances containing the chemical or
from skin contact with it.
If you are exposed to a hazardous chemical
such as JP-4 or JP-7, several 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, sex, nutritional
status, family traits, lifestyle, and state of health.
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1.1
What are jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7? |
JP-4 and JP-7 (jet propellant-4 and jet
propellant-7) are substances that are used by the U.S. Air
Force as aircraft fuels. They are also called jet fuel-4
and jet fuel-7. JP-4 is a colorless to straw-colored
liquid. It smells like gasoline and/or kerosene.
JP-7 is also a liquid, usually colorless. It smells
like kerosene. Both JP-4 and JP-7 are flammable.
JP-4 can be made by refining either crude petroleum oil or
shale oil. JP-7 is made by refining kerosene, a product
of refined crude petroleum. Both JP-4 and JP-7 are blends
of other chemicals made according to standards specified by
the U.S. Air Force for each fuel. Both JP-4 and JP-7
are liquids at room temperature, but they can also change
into vapor.
In the toxicological profile, JP-4 and
JP-7 are discussed together.
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1.2
What happens to jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 when they enter the
environment? |
We have information about what happens
to JP-4 or its components in the environment. Although
JP-7 is similar, there is not much information about what
happens to it in the environment. JP-4 enters the environment
when it spills or leaks into water or soil. It can enter
the air during manufacturing, by evaporation of spills, and
when it is discarded or jettisoned from jets during flight.
JP-4 is a mixture of many chemicals. After it is released,
the mixture spreads out in the atmosphere, and the component
chemicals behave differently than they did in the liquid mixture.
The behavior of each component in the environment depends
on its individual chemical and physical properties.
When JP-4 enters the air from flying jets as unburned fuel,
some of the constituent chemicals fall back to the earth and
land on water or soil. Other chemicals stay in the air
and may change to different compounds when they react with
light or other chemicals. Most of the chemicals in JP-4
evaporate when JP-4 spills into water. Some of the chemicals
that do not evaporate as fast may dissolve in the water.
If the water is very rough when the spill occurs, more JP-4
components will dissolve in the water. The chemicals
that dissolve in the water are broken down further by microorganisms
or become attached to the solid materials, called sediment,
in the water. The chemicals that bind to this sediment
may settle to the bottom of the water and stay there for a
long time. When JP-4 spills or leaks to soil, some of
the chemicals evaporate, but many of them are broken down
by microorganisms. Some of them may also stick to the
soil. Components that do not break down easily and components
that stick to soil particles may stay in the soil for a long
time. Currently, no information is available about what
happens to JP-7 or its
components in the environment, but it is similar in composition
to JP-4 so it would probably act like JP-4 when it enters
the environment.
We know that many chemicals found in
JP-4 can break down in the atmosphere to other chemicals,
but we do not know what many of these breakdown products are.
We have some information on several chemicals found in jet
fuel (for example, benzene, toluene, hexane, xylene, and lead).
We know more about what happens to them when they enter the
environment as individual chemicals. When they enter
the environment as part of jet fuel, they may behave the same
way as when they are released alone. You can find more
information on several individual components of jet fuel in
the ATSDR toxicological profiles for these chemicals.
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1.3
How might I be exposed to jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7? |
It is unlikely that you would be exposed
to JP-4 unless you work with jet fuel or live very close to
where it is used or spilled. Exposure to JP-4 can occur
if you touch soil or water contaminated from a spill or leak.
If you drink water contaminated with JP-4 you will be exposed
to the chemicals in the mixture. You might breathe in
some of the chemicals evaporating from a spill or leak site
if you stay in the area where an accident has occurred.
Exposure to some components might occur from air releases
if the components settle to the ground near populated areas.
Workers involved in making or transporting
JP-4 or in refueling military aircraft that use JP-4 might
breathe air containing it. They might also spill some
on their skin. Occupational data from 1981 to 1983 show
that about 4,866 workers employed in 633 plants might have
been exposed to JP-4.
No information is available specifically
on exposure of individuals to JP-7. However, it is similar
in composition to JP-4 and it is reasonable to assume that
you could be exposed to it in the same way as described above
for JP-4.
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1.4
How can jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 enter and leave my body? |
JP-4 and JP-7 can enter your bloodstream
when you breathe them in, when you drink water containing
them, or when your skin comes in contact with them.
This can occur in the workplace or if you live near a manufacturing
facility or an Air Force base. We do not know how much
of the compounds your body might take up if you breathe them,
drink them, or get them on your skin. We have no information
on what happens to these chemical mixtures once they enter
your body. We do not know if they remain in any tissues
in the body. We also do not know whether these compounds
leave the body in the urine or feces.
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1.5
How can jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7 affect my health? |
We know very little about the human health
effects caused by JP-4 and JP-7. Breathing
in large amounts of JP-4 would cause you to feel suffocated
and breathing would be painful. Animal studies showed
that breathing in extremely high levels of JP-4 and JP-7 does
not cause death. We do not know if breathing in large
amounts could cause death in people. Breathing in high
levels of JP-4 has caused harmful effects on the nervous system.
Some of the nervous system effects in people include headache,
dizziness, nausea, depression, anxiety, memory loss, and irritability.
Nervous system effects have occurred in people exposed to
vapor from jet fuels like JP-4 for short and long periods
in their jobs. Laboratory animals that breathed very
high levels of JP-4 vapor for a short time developed nervous
system effects, including poor coordination and convulsions.
In lower doses, JP-4 vapor has caused animals to have a depressed
level of activity compared with animals that were not exposed.
Experimental animals have also had decreased numbers of white
blood cells after breathing JP-4 vapor. Changes in liver
cells have also been seen in animals exposed to either JP-4
or JP-7 vapor. Studies in animals show that both JP-4
and JP-7 can cause skin and eye irritation. JP-4 may
cause skin cancer in mice or rats after exposure by skin contact.
The data about cancer effects from breathing in JP-4 or JP-7
are not clear-cut. No data about cancer effects exist
for exposure to JP-4 or JP-7 by eating or drinking.
We do not know if JP-4 or JP-7 causes cancer in people.
We do not have any information on whether JP-4 or JP-7 can
cause birth defects or if they affect reproduction.
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1.6
Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed
to jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7? |
There is no medical test that shows if
you have been exposed to JP-4 or JP-7. For information
on tests for measuring exposure to some individual components
of jet fuels, see the ATSDR toxicological profiles on benzene,
toluene, xylene, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
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1.7
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect
human health? |
The government has developed regulations
and guidelines for JP-4 and JP-7 and the chemicals in them.
These are designed to protect the public from the possible
harmful health effects of the chemicals.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) and the Air Force Office of Safety and Health (AFOSH)
regulate levels of petroleum products in the workplace.
The maximum allowable amount of petroleum distillates in workroom
air during an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, is 500 parts
per million (ppm).
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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). 1995. Toxicological
profile for jet fuels JP-4 and JP-7. Atlanta, GA: U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
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