1.1 What are dinitrocresols? |
1.2 What happens to dinitrocresols when
they enter the environment? |
1.3 How might I be exposed to dinitrocresols? |
1.4 How can dinitrocresols enter and leave
my body? |
1.5 How can dinitrocresols affect my health? |
1.6 Is there a medical test to determine
whether I have been exposed to dinitrocresols? |
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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August 1995 |
Public Health Statement |
for |
Dinitrocresols |
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This Public Health Statement is the
summary chapter from the Toxicological
Profile for dinitrocresols. 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 dinitrocresols and to emphasize the human
health effects that may result from exposure to them. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 1,350
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. Dinitrocresols
have been found in at least 50 of the sites on the NPL. However,
the number of NPL sites evaluated for dinitrocresols is not
known. As EPA evaluates more sites, the number of sites at
which dinitrocresols is found may increase. This information
is important because exposure to dinitrocresols may cause
harmful health effects and because these sites are potential
or actual sources of human exposure to dinitrocresols.
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 substances such
as dinitrocresols, 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 are dinitrocresols? |
Dinitrocresols are a group of organic
chemicals that can contain up to 18 individual compounds.
This document contains information on mainly one dinitrocresol
that is commercially most important. This dinitrocresol is
called 4,6-dinitro-o-cresol and is abbreviated
as DNOC. Industries manufacture dinitrocresols, and this is
the major source of exposure. DNOC is sold under many trade
names, some of which are Antinonnin®, Detal®,
and Dinitrol®. EPA has canceled the registration
of these pesticides. DNOC is a yellow solid with no smell.
The taste of DNOC is not known. It dissolves slightly in water.
DNOC in water and soil does not easily evaporate to air. DNOC
was primarily used to protect fruit trees and other food crops
from insect damage. Another less expensive chemical that is
more effective in controlling pests is replacing DNOC. In
the 1930s, DNOC was used in pills for reducing weight. It
is no longer used for this purpose because of bad effects
on health.
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1.2
What happens to dinitrocresols when they enter the environment? |
DNOC enters the air, water, and soil
during its manufacture and transport. It also enters the environment
when formulated products are prepared and used. Very small
amounts of DNOC may form in the atmosphere in the presence
of other compounds. Wastes containing DNOC are produced during
its manufacture and use. These DNOC- containing wastes are
often disposed in landfills. DNOC enters the environment from
these landfills. DNOC also enters the environment from accidental
spills during manufacture and transport and from leaks during
storage.
DNOC destruction in air from chemical
reactions with other pollutants or from interaction with sunlight
may be insignificant. It eventually returns from air to land
and water by settling and washout by snow and rainwater. We
do not know how long DNOC stays in the air before it is fully
removed. No known chemical reaction removes significant amounts
of DNOC from water. DNOC in water may be broken down slowly
by microorganisms. DNOC does not appreciably evaporate from
water. Some of the DNOC sticks to particles present in water.
This process partially transfers DNOC from water to the bottom
sediment. When DNOC was accidentally spilled into the Rhine
River in Germany, the level of DNOC in water decreased to
half its initial value in an estimated 30 days. No known chemical
reaction removes significant amounts of DNOC from soil. Microorganisms
break down DNOC in soil. The loss of DNOC from soil by evaporation
is not significant. DNOC has been found in groundwater from
fields where it was applied. The level of DNOC in soil may
decrease to half its original level in an estimated 14 days
to 1 month or longer.
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1.3
How might I be exposed to dinitrocresols? |
People can be exposed to DNOC by breathing
contaminated air, drinking contaminated water, or eating contaminated
food. Other than in certain workplaces, levels of DNOC in
the air we commonly breathe in the United States have not
been measured. However, the ambient level is expected to be
very low. The levels of DNOC in drinking water and food also
have not been detected. Certain people may be exposed to slightly
higher levels of DNOC. People who live near sites containing
DNOC wastes may be exposed primarily by breathing contaminated
air. Children playing at or near these sites will be exposed
by touching and eating soil if that soil contains DNOC. You
may be exposed to DNOC if your work involves manufacturing,
preparing, or using formulated DNOC products. You may be exposed
if you work as a sprayer of DNOC. You also may be exposed
to DNOC if your work involves incinerating waste containing
DNOC or cleaning up sites contaminated with DNOC. According
to one study, the estimated skin contact of workers spraying
apple orchards was 22.5 milligrams of DNOC per hour (mg/hour)
(1 milligram is one thousandth of a gram or a 30,000th fraction
of an ounce). The workers also breathed less than 0.05–0.4
mg DNOC per hour while spraying. The blood and urine of some
of the spray operators contained DNOC.
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1.4
How can dinitrocresols enter and leave my body? |
DNOC can readily enter your body through
the lungs if breathed in, through the stomach and intestines
if swallowed, or through the skin if touched. The amount of
DNOC that enters your body depends on the amount in air, food,
and water, and the length of time you are exposed. After DNOC
enters your body, your blood can carry it to your lungs, brain,
liver, kidneys, spleen, muscles, and heart. DNOC can build
up in these organs and tissues if you are repeatedly exposed.
Animal studies show that DNOC is broken down to harmless products
that do not cause health effects, but leave the body in urine,
feces, and exhaled air. We do not know whether DNOC is broken
down in people the same way it is in animals. However, we
do know that DNOC leaves the bodies of people more slowly
than it leaves the bodies of animals. This might mean there
are other differences in the way people and animals break
it down. DNOC can be found in human urine for as long as 20
days after the last exposure.
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1.5
How can dinitrocresols affect my health? |
Adverse health effects can result from
breathing too much DNOC, from excessive skin contact, and
from swallowing too much of it. Some of what we know about
how DNOC can affect your health comes from reports of workers
who became ill after making DNOC in factories or spraying
it on crops. These workers breathed in the DNOC dusts or had
skin contact with it, but we do not know to how much they
were exposed. Most of what we know about how DNOC can affect
your health comes from old reports from doctors who prescribed
DNOC for their patients who wanted to lose weight. DNOC has
not been used as a diet pill for almost 60 years because of
the harmful effects to those patients. The amount of DNOC
that the patients took in pill form was as low as 0.35 milligram
of DNOC per kilogram of body weight per day (mg/kg/day). DNOC
increases your basal metabolic rate, which can increase your
pulse and heart rates, and cause profuse sweating and fever.
These effects can occur after breathing in, swallowing, or
having skin contact with DNOC for a short period. DNOC also
may make it difficult for you to breathe and causes headaches,
drowsiness, dizziness, and weight loss. DNOC stains the whites
of the eyes and the skin yellow, and can cause mild damage
to the stomach, the kidneys, and the liver. If swallowed for
long periods, DNOC may cause cataracts in your eyes and skin
rashes. If you breathe in, swallow, or have skin contact with
large amounts of DNOC for short periods, you could have convulsions,
become unconscious, and even die. High environmental temperatures,
such as in tropical climates, can worsen these effects.
DNOC causes similar health effects in
animals. In addition, injection of other dinitrocresols into
animals caused similar effects. High environmental temperatures
can worsen the harmful effects in some animals that swallow
DNOC. Some animals exposed to DNOC for a long period show
blood cell changes. Ducklings given high levels of DNOC in
the diet for a short period developed cataracts.
We do not know whether DNOC causes reproductive
effects, birth defects, or cancer in people. One animal study
suggests that swallowing DNOC may decrease the number of sperm
in the testes of males or cause damage to the ovaries of females.
Swallowing DNOC does not appear to cause developmental effects
in animals. We do not know whether DNOC causes cancer in animals.
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1.6
Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed
to dinitrocresols? |
DNOC can be measured in the blood, urine,
and feces of exposed people. DNOC has been detected in human
blood as many as 40 days after the last dose was swallowed.
Measuring the amount of DNOC in blood may not be a reliable
test to determine how much DNOC you were exposed to or for
how long, but it can be used to predict whether you would
experience harmful effects, such as headache and depression.
DNOC has been found in urine for more than 1320 days
after the last exposure, but much of the DNOC also remains
in the body. This means that measuring DNOC in the urine may
not be a reliable test to determine how much you were exposed
to or for how long. Testing urine can determine only whether
or not you have been exposed to DNOC, not whether you will
experience any harmful health effects. Breakdown products
of DNOC are reported one study of human exposure and have
been found in the urine of exposed animals. Yellow-stained
skin and eyes can alert a doctor that you may have been exposed
to DNOC, but other similar chemicals also cause yellow staining.
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1.7
What recommendations has the federal government made to protect
human health? |
EPA lists DNOC as a hazardous air pollutant.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulates
DNOC levels in the workplace. The occupational exposure limit
for an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek, is 0.2 milligrams
of DNOC per cubic meter of air (mg/m³). The National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends
that exposure in air not exceed 0.2 mg DNOC/m³ for a
10-hour workday, 40-hour workweek. Federal regulations limit
the amount of DNOC that factories can release into waste water.
The EPA requires industries to report releases or spills of
10 pounds or more.
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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 dinitrocresols. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
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