Request for Assistance in...Health Hazard Alert-- 2-Nitropropane (2-NP)
NIOSH ALERT: October 1, 1980 |
OSHA and NIOSH conclude that 2-nitropropane (2-NP) is a confirmed carcinogen in laboratory rats (1,2,3). In 1977, NIOSH summarized the carcinogenic potential of 2-NP in Current Intelligence Bulletin #17 (4). Since then data have been developed which reinforce and expand the original findings. As a confirmed animal carcinogen, 2-NP has the potential to cause cancer in humans. This document summarizes the cancer studies of 2-NP in laboratory animals and its toxic effects in humans. It recommends that worker exposure to 2-NP be reduced to the lowest feasible levels. The document recommends actions, procedures, and medical programs that should be used to protect workers from exposure to 2-NP.
[signature] Eula Bingham, Ph.D. Assistant Secretary Occupational Safety and Health Administration | [signature] Anthony Robbins, M.D. Director National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health |
The Directorate of Technical Support, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Division of Criteria Documentation and Standards Development, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), had primary responsibilities for this document. Dr. James R. Beall of the Directorate of Technical Support, OSHA, served as the project manager. Personnel from OSHA who assisted with the development of the document include: Victor Alexander, M.D., Ching-Tsen Bien, M.S., Chia Chen, Ph.D., Peter Infante, Dr. P.H., Patricia Marlow, Ph.D., and Elisa Braver, M.H.S. Personnel from NIOSH who assisted with the development of the document include: Nelson Leidel, Sc.D., Trent Lewis, Ph.D., and A. W. Thomas, B.S.
Solvent systems containing 2-NP are used in coatings (e.g., vinyl, epoxy paints, nitrocellulose, and chlorinated rubber), printing inks, and adhesives. It is also used as a solvent in food processing for fractionation of a partially saturated vegetable oil. Occupational exposure to 2-NP may occur in many industries including industrial construction and maintenance, printing (rotogravure and flexographic inks), highway maintenance (traffic markings), shipbuilding and maintenance (marine coatings), furniture, and plastic products. About 185,000 workers in the U.S. are exposed to 2-NP during its production and use. Commercial Solvents Corporation (CSC) was the only producer of 2-NP until that corporation was purchased about 5 years ago by International Minerals and Chemical Corporation (IMC). International Minerals and Chemical Corporation is now the sole producer of 2-NP. 2-Nitropropane was manufactured in a pilot plant in Peoria, Illinois, from 1940 to 1955. Since 1955, it has been manufactured in a plant in Sterlington, Louisiana. Of the estimated 30 million pounds of 2-NP produced annually, 12 million are sold domestically. The remainder is either used internally at IMC or exported. Major distributors of 2-NP, other than Commercial Solvents Corporation, include Amsco Division of Union Oil Company of California, Industrial Chemicals and Solvents Division of Ashland Chemical Company, and Thompson Hayward Chemical Company (4).
2-Nitropropane (CAS No. 000 79-46-9; RTECS No. TZ5250000) is a clear colorless liquid with a pleasant odor. The molecular formula of 2-NP is CH3CH(NO2)CH3, the molecular weight is 89.09 and the specific gravity is 0.992 (5,6). The melting point of 2-NP is -93°C, the boiling point is 118-120°C, and the solubility in water is 1.7 ml/100 ml at 25°C. 2-Nitropropane is soluble in many organic solvents including chloroform. The vapor pressure of 2-NP is 20 mm Hg at 25°C and the flash point is 103°F (39.4°C) (6). The lower flammability limit is 2.6% by volume in air (7). Its vapors may form an explosive mixture with air.
Synonyms for 2-NP include dimethylnitromethane, isonitropropane and nitroisopropane. Trade names for 2-NP include Ni-Par S-20TM (a commercial grade 2-NP) and NiPar S-30TM (mixtures of 1-nitropropane and 2-NP) (4).
Data from two carcinogenesis bioassay studies are available. One of these studies is completed (1,2). The other is ongoing (3). Both show the 2-NP is carcinogenic in rats. In the completed study, male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 2-NP for 7 hours/day, 5 days/week for 6 months in whole body chambers (1,2). Fifty rats were exposed at 207 ppm, 50 at 27 ppm, and 50 were unexposed. Liver cancers (hepatocellular carcinoma) were observed in all 10 rats killed after 6 months of exposure at 207 ppm of 2-NP. No tumors were observed in any other animals in this study, including controls. Rats exposed at 207 ppm developed other adverse liver changes such as hepatocellular hypertrophy, hyperplasia, and necrosis after 3 months. In the second uncompleted study (3), both sexes of Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 2-NP vapors at 200 ppm, 100 ppm, or 25 ppm for 7 hours/day, 5 days/week for up to 6 months. Nine of 10 rats exposed for 6 months at 200 ppm and held unexposed for 6 more months had metastatic liver carcinomas. According to preliminary data male rats exposed at 100 ppm also developed liver tumors (8). At the end of 22 months no malignancies or any significant pathologic changes were observed in the livers of any of the male or female rats exposed at 25 ppm. Focal areas of hepatic cellular nodules were noted in 3 of 250 control animals and 13 of 249 exposed animals. Other microscopic observations included focal cytoplasmic vacuolization of hepatocytes and liver congestion (18).
In addition to carcinogenic changes, 2-NP causes other toxic changes in laboratory animals and in humans (1-3,9-15).
Studies of humans who were accidentally exposed to 2-NP show that brief exposure to high concentrations may be harmful. One report about two workers attributes the death of one and liver damage in both to high level exposures to 2-NP that occurred while they painted the inside of a tank (9). They had used a zinc-epoxy paint diluted with 2-NP and ethylglycol (2-ethoxyethanol). Another report describes the deaths of four men who were working in confined spaces with paint, surface coating, a polyester based resin products containing 2-NP (15). All four workers had liver damage and destruction of hepatocytes. The authors attributed the deaths to overexposure to 2-NP but admitted that other solvents might have played a role since 2-NP was not identified by toxicological analysis (15). Continuing exposure to concentrations of 20 to 45 ppm of 2-NP caused nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, and severe headaches in workers in one plant (12). In another instance, toxic hepatitis developed in construction workers applying epoxy resins to the walls of a nuclear power plant (13). Although the hepatitis was attributed to a known hepatoxin, p,p'-methylenedianiline (4,4'- diaminodiphenylmethane), it could have resulted from the 2-NP that the men used to wash the epoxy resins from their skin.
Workers may not be able to detect 2-NP by its odor, even in the presence of potentially hazardous concentrations. One report states that humans cannot detect 2-NP at 83 ppm by its odor (10). Another states that 2-NP cannot be detected by its odor until the concentration is about 160 ppm (15).
In 1979, an epidemiological study of workers exposed to 2-NP was reported by the International Minerals and Chemical Corporation (16). The study included all 1,481 employees who worked at the Sterlington, Louisiana, plant between 1955 when 2-NP production began and the study cutoff date of July, 1977. The company defined the exposure of each employee in the study group as direct, indirect, or not exposed. Since formal industrial hygiene monitor of work areas was not performed until 1977, individual exposure classifications were based on job titles rather than actual exposure data. Interpretation of the study results is further hampered by several factors, including: (1) the lack of sufficient time since onset of exposure for tumor development, (2) the limited number of workers in the study with long exposures (15 years), and (3) the small number of deaths among the group studied. The authors conclude that "analysis of these data does not suggest any unusual cancer or other disease mortality pattern among this group of workers." They appropriately note, however, that "both because the cohort is mall and because the period of latency is, for most, relatively short, one cannot conclude from these data that 2-NP is non-carcinogenic in humans" (16).
There are, in addition, a number of unexplained findings with respect to cancer mortality observed among employees whom the company has classified as not exposed to 2-NP. When the mortality figures for all males, regardless of exposure category, are combined, there were 4 deaths from lymphatic cancer where only 1 was expected.
Among the total of 147 female employees there were 8 deaths from all causes compared to 2.9 expected deaths, and 4 deaths from cancer compared to 0.8 expected. Finally, the authors report that 7 deaths in the small study cohort were observed from sarcomatous cancer, which is a relatively rare form of malignancy. This number seems unusually high. However, it was not possible to generate an expected number of deaths for comparison to determine statistically if the sarcomatous cancers were in excess because they cannot be broken out in the standard method of reporting and classifying deaths. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD), used in the study, does not have a unique code for those cancers. The authors recommend that follow-up of the cohort be continued and that the data be reanalyzed periodically. The company has committed itself to a program that includes these suggestions. OSHA and NIOSH agree that the present study is inconclusive, and that it is appropriate to continue follow-up and reanalysis to confirm or to modify the observations made thus far.
2-Nitropropane should be handled in the workplace as a potential human carcinogen. OSHA's current Permissible Exposure Limit for 2-NP is 25 ppm or 90 mg/m3 (8-hour, time-weighted averages). Evidence of carcinogenicity was not considered in setting this limit. Because 2-NP has now been shown to be carcinogenic in rats, occupational exposure to it should be reduced to the lowest feasible levels. Methods of sampling for 2-NP in air include use of a sorbent tube containing Chromosorb 105 to trap organic vapors (17). Gas chromatographic and other methods for analyzing concentrations of 2-NP at levels of 300 ppb are also available (17).
To protect workers from exposure to 2-NP, there are several actions that employers, employees, and their physicians should take.
Table I contains acceptable respirators that may be used to reduce exposure to 2-NP by inhalation.
I. Employers Should:
II. Employees Should:
III. As part of the medical surveillance program presented under recommendation I-3, physicians should:
Maximum Exposure Concentration (or Conditions of Use) | Recommended Respirator* |
Not in excess of 1,000 ppm | Half-mask positive-pressure supplied air respirator. Full facepiece is required if eye irritation is experienced. |
Between 1,000 and 2,000 ppm | Positive-pressure supplied air respirator with full facepiece, helmet or hood. |
Over 2,000 ppm or unknown concentration | 1. Full facepiece positive-pressure self-contained breathing apparatus.
2. Full facepiece positive-pressure supplied air respirator with an auxiliary positive-pressure self-contained air supply. |
Firefighting Situations | Full facepiece positive-pressure self-contained breathing apparatus. |
Escape Situations | Any full facepiece, self-contained breathing apparatus. |
* Respirators using canisters that contain oxidation-promoting catalysts should never be used with 2-NP (19). [Return to top of table] |
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