1.1 What is hexachloroethane? |
1.2 What happens to hexachloroethane when
it enters the environment? |
1.3 How might I be exposed to hexachloroethane? |
1.4 How can hexachloroethane enter and
leave my body? |
1.5 How can hexachloroethane affect my
health? |
1.6 Is there a medical test to determine
whether I have been exposed to hexachloroethane? |
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 |
Hexachloroethane |
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This Public Health Statement is the
summary chapter from the Toxicological
Profile for hexachloroethane. 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 hexachloroethane 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 clean-up activities. Hexachloroethane
has been found in at least 45 of the sites on the NPL. However,
the number of NPL sites evaluated for hexachloroethane is
not known. As EPA evaluates more sites, the number of sites
at which hexachloroethane is found may increase. This information
is important because exposure to hexachloroethane may cause
harmful health effects and because these sites are potential
or actual sources of human exposure to hexachloroethane.
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
it or by touching it.
If you are exposed to a substance such
as hexachloroethane, 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, sex, nutritional
status, family traits, lifestyle, and state of health.
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1.1
What is hexachloroethane? |
Hexachloroethane is a colorless solid
that gradually evaporates when it is exposed to air. This
compound is also called perchloroethane, carbon hexachloride,
and HCE. It is sold under the trade names Avlothane, Distokal,
Distopan, and Distopin. In the United States, about half of
the hexachloroethane is used by the military for smoke-producing
devices. It is also sold as degassing pellets that are used
to remove the air bubbles in melted aluminum. Hexachloroethane
may be present as an ingredient in some fungicides, insecticides,
lubricants, plastics, and cellulose. At one time, hexachloroethane
was prescribed for deworming animals.
Hexachloroethane does not occur naturally
in the environment. It is made by adding chlorine to tetrachloroethylene.
Hexachloroethane is no longer made in the United States, but
it is formed as a by-product in the production of some chemicals.
For example, it is a by-product in the high temperature synthesis
of tetrachloroethylene from carbon tetrachloride. Some hexachloroethane
can be formed by incinerators when materials containing chlorinated
hydrocarbons are burned. Hexachloroethane itself does not
easily catch fire. Some hexachloroethane can also be formed
when chlorine reacts with carbon compounds in drinking water.
Hexachloroethane vapors smell like camphor.
You can begin to smell hexachloroethane in air when there
are 150 parts present in a billion parts of air (ppb). You
can smell it in water at 10 ppb. Neither a description of
the taste nor the amount of hexachloroethane that gives a
taste to water were found.
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1.2
What happens to hexachloroethane when it enters the environment? |
Hexachloroethane is released to the air
during military operations and training exercises when smoke-producing
devices containing it are used. In a smoke pot or grenade,
most of it is used up by the smoke-producing reaction. Only
small amounts (5% or less) remain after the smoke has formed.
However, these small amounts can collect in the atmosphere
and in the soil. At one military training site, about 14,700
pounds of hexachloroethane were released to the air over a
2-year period.
Hexachloroethane also enters the environment
as part of the waste from companies that make or use it. Vapors
can be released to the air during production, use, or transport.
Solid wastes containing it are buried in landfills or burned.
In landfills, it can dissolve in underground water because
it does not bind strongly to soil. Once dissolved, it can
reach rivers, lakes, streams, or well water.
Hexachloroethane in the air does not
break down to other compounds. It gradually escapes into the
upper atmosphere. Some hexachloroethane that is in lakes or
streams and surface soils will evaporate into the air. Some
will be broken down by microscopic organisms. Microbes can
break down hexachloroethane more easily without oxygen than
with oxygen. That is why hexachloroethane will break down
more quickly when it is buried in the soil or trapped in underground
water than when it is near the surface. In one study, it took
only 4 days for 99% of the hexachloroethane in soil to break
down when oxygen was not present. It took 4 weeks when oxygen
was present.
Hexachloroethane does not appear to collect
in plants or animals used for food. It has a slight tendency
to build up in fish, but the fish break it down quickly, so
the amount found in fish from polluted waters is very low.
Rainbow trout from Lake Ontario had only 0.03 parts hexachloroethane
per trillion (ppt) parts of fish.
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1.3
How might I be exposed to hexachloroethane? |
You can be exposed to hexachloroethane
from the air. Background levels in air range from 5 to 7 ppt.
Larger amounts may be found near military installations where
smoke pots and grenades that contain hexachloroethane are
used during training. When a smoke pot or grenade is used,
the heat will cause other chemicals to be formed, including
tetrachloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride, phosgene, and hexachlorobenzene.
These chemicals can also be toxic. Higher than average amounts
can occur near aluminum smelters that use hexachloroethane
as a degassing agent. Incinerators that burn industrial wastes
containing chlorine can release hexachloroethane to the air.
If you live near a hazardous waste site,
you might be exposed to hexachloroethane by breathing or by
drinking contaminated water. Private wells within one mile
of a hazardous waste site contained 4.6 ppb hexachloroethane.
Children who play in soil near a waste site that contains
hexachloroethane could be exposed if they put soil or soiled
fingers into their mouths.
You are not likely to be exposed to hexachloroethane
from your food. However, you might be exposed if you use insecticides,
fungicides, or plastics that contain this chemical. You may
also be exposed to small amounts of this chemical from your
drinking water if chlorine is used to kill germs. Hexachloroethane
has occasionally been reported in drinking water at concentrations
of 0.034.3 ppb in some locations in the United States.
If you work in an industry that uses
hexachloroethane, such as aluminum smelting, or a chemical
plant, you could be exposed by breathing it or touching it.
About 8,500 people in the United States are exposed to hexachloroethane
at work.
People who work with smoke-producing
devices that contain hexachloroethane are exposed to it in
the smoke. They can contact it through smoke particles on
plants and in the soil.
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1.4
How can hexachloroethane enter and leave my body? |
Hexachloroethane can enter your body
through your lungs if you breathe its vapors. Of the amount
that enters your lungs, only a small fraction of the hexachloroethane
will enter your bloodstream and ultimately your body tissues.
It can enter your body if you eat or drink something contaminated
with it. Based on studies in animals, about half of the hexachloroethane
you eat will get into your bloodstream. Very little will enter
your body if you get it on your skin.
The hexachloroethane that enters your
bloodstream will go to your liver where it is turned into
other compounds. Some of these compounds are harmful and will
affect your health in almost the same way hexachloroethane
does. If you are exposed to carbon tetrachloride, your liver
can make hexachloroethane from it.
When hexachloroethane gets into your
body, some is temporarily stored in your body fat. Most of
it leaves your body in 1 or 2 days in the air you breathe
out, in your urine, and in your feces.
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1.5
How can hexachloroethane affect my health? |
Mild skin irritation has been reported
by workers at a munitions factory who were exposed to low
levels of hexachloroethane. The workers were wearing protective
clothing that greatly reduced exposure. No other information
is available concerning health effects in people exposed to
hexachloroethane. However, results of animal studies can be
used to show how it can affect your health. Based on the animal
data, hexachloroethane in the air can irritate your nose and
lungs and cause some buildup of mucus in your nose, much like
an allergy. It can also irritate your eyes and make them tear.
If you are in an area that has a lot
of hexachloroethane vapor, your facial muscles may twitch
or you may have difficulty moving. These effects have been
observed in animals during exposure at levels far greater
than those found in industrial use of hexachloroethane or
those which would be expected in areas near a hazardous waste
site.
Hexachloroethane is not a highly toxic
substance. If you are exposed to a large amount for a long
time, some of your liver cells could be destroyed and fat
could build up in your liver. There is also a slight chance
that your kidneys could be damaged.
No results from animal studies suggest
that hexachloroethane would make it hard for you to become
pregnant or that it would hurt your baby while you are pregnant.
However, animal studies that have looked at the effects of
hexachloroethane during pregnancy are limited.
Liver tumors developed in mice that were
orally exposed to hexachloroethane for their whole lifetime.
Tumors of this kind are common in mice. Hexachloroethane will
not necessarily have the same effect on people. Male rats
that were exposed to hexachloroethane for their lifetime developed
kidney tumors. This type of tumor is not found in people,
so it is unlikely that exposure to hexachloroethane would
cause you to develop cancer of the kidney. The Department
of Health and Human Services has determined that hexachloroethane
may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen (can cause
cancer). The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)
has determined that hexachloroethane is not classifiable as
to its carcinogenicity in people. EPA has determined that
hexachloroethane is a possible human carcinogen.
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1.6
Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed
to hexachloroethane? |
Samples of your blood, urine, or feces
can be tested to see if you were exposed to hexachloroethane.
The tests are not routinely available at most doctors' offices,
but your doctor can collect blood, urine, or fecal samples
and send them to a special laboratory for testing. These tests
are useful only if you were exposed 2448 hours before
you saw the doctor. Your body changes hexachloroethane into
the same compounds that it makes from other chemicals like
tetrachloroethylene or pentachloroethane. Your body can also
make hexachloroethane from carbon tetrachloride. Therefore,
if a laboratory finds hexachloroethane in your body blood
or excretions, your doctor will ask you if you were exposed
to carbon tetrachloride.
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1.7
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect
human health? |
The federal government is concerned about
the amount of hexachloroethane that you are exposed to in
the environment. The government has established standards
and guidelines to prevent you from being overexposed. The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set
a limit of 1 part per million (ppm) for the hexachloroethane
in workplace air over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) considers hexachloroethane
as a potential occupational carcinogen (can cause cancer)
and recommends 1 ppm in air as a tolerance value.
The EPA recommends that children not
drink water with more than 5 ppm hexachloroethane for more
than 10 days or more than 100 ppb for any longer than 7 years.
Adults should not drink water with more than 450 ppb any longer
than 7 years. EPA suggests that water consumed over a lifetime
contain no more than 1 ppb hexachloroethane.
Industrial releases of more than 100
pounds of hexachloroethane into the environment must be reported
to EPA.
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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 hexachloroethane. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
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