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Alkylene Oxides: Manufacture, Chemistry, and Applications
Published in F. E. Bailey, Joseph V. Koleske, Alkylene Oxides and Their Polymers, 2020
F. E. Bailey, Joseph V. Koleske
Data also indicate that ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic and mutagenic hazard. An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph concludes that there is sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity of ethylene oxide in animals (3). Although ethylene oxide causes cancer in mice and rats, evidence was not yet considered sufficient in 1985 to determine the carcinogenicity of human exposure to ethylene oxide (4). However, ethylene oxide should be considered as a potential human carcinogen (5). The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set exposure limits for workplace atmospheres. Although one can find relatively high time-weighted averages in the very recent literature, the OSHA 8-hour, time-weighted average is1 ppm (5). A 1988 OSHA standard adopted a short-term permissible exposure limit (i.e., an excursion limit) of 5 ppm ethylene oxide averaged over a 15-minute sampling period (6). It is important to use current material safety data sheets when working with ethylene oxide.
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Published in Maurizio Cumo, Antonio Naviglio, Safety Design Criteria for Industrial Plants, 2019
Claudia Bartolomei, Sergio Paribelli
Aqueous solutions of ethylene oxide are extremely irritating to the skin with effects often appearing after a latent period of 1 to 5 h. Ethylene oxide is absorbed by rubber, plastic, and leather articles during sterilization. Rubber gloves and shoes sterilized with ethylene oxide have caused severe skin irritation. Ethylene oxide is suspected of carcinogenic potential for man.
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Published in Salmi Tapio, Mikkola Jyri-Pekka, Wärnå Johan, Chemical Reaction Engineering and Reactor Technology, 2019
Salmi Tapio, Mikkola Jyri-Pekka, Wärnå Johan
65.Ethylene oxide is one of the important intermediates used in the chemical industry. Ethylene oxide is produced by partial oxidation of ethene with molecular oxygen in the presence of a silver catalyst. Besides the partial oxidation, undesired total oxidation of ethene proceeds, yielding carbon monoxide and water. The reaction scheme can qualitatively be sketched as follows,
Ethylene oxide review: characterization of total exposure via endogenous and exogenous pathways and their implications to risk assessment and risk management
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2021
CR Kirman, AA Li, PJ Sheehan, JS Bus, RC Lewis, SM Hays
Ethylene oxide is a reactive epoxide that is used in the manufacture of chemicals including ethylene glycol, glycol ethers, ethanolamines, ethoxylates and acrylonitrile and in the sterilization of materials such as foods, spices, and medical equipment. For decades, ethylene oxide was recognized as an animal carcinogen based upon observations of increased tumor rates in highly exposed mice and rats (Lynch et al. 1984; NTP, 1987; Snellings, Weil, and Maronpot 1984). The results of epidemiology studies, however, have been inconclusive. Increases in certain types of cancers were reported in a large study of sterilant workers (2004; Steenland et al. 2003); but these elevations were not seen consistently in other studies, including in a more heavily exposed cohort of chemical workers, followed over an extended time period (Marsh et al. 2019; Swaen et al. 2009). USEPA (2016) reassessed the cancer potency of ethylene oxide on its IRIS database resulting in the derivation of a unit risk value (a quantitative estimate of cancer potency) that is approximately 50-fold higher (i.e. more potent) than its preceding value. This large change in cancer potency estimated for ethylene oxide has initiated changes in its regulation such as the amount that can be released from facilities that produce or use ethylene oxide and the level of exposure considered acceptable. This has also resulted in enhanced public attention and concern over the potential adverse health effects associated with exposures at or near facilities that use ethylene oxide (Hogue 2019; Olaguer et al. 2019).
Overview of biological mechanisms of human carcinogens
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2019
Nicholas Birkett, Mustafa Al-Zoughool, Michael Bird, Robert A. Baan, Jan Zielinski, Daniel Krewski
Ethylene oxide is an important raw material used in the manufacture of chemical derivatives that are the basis for major consumer goods in virtually all industrialized countries. More than half of the ethylene oxide produced worldwide is employed in the manufacture of mono-ethylene glycol. Other important derivatives of ethylene oxide include di-ethylene glycol, tri-ethylene glycol, poly(ethylene) glycols, ethylene glycol ethers, ethanol-amines, and ethoxylation products of fatty alcohols, fatty amines, alkyl phenols, cellulose and poly(propylene) glycol. Only a small proportion (0.05%) of the annual production of ethylene oxide is utilized directly in the gaseous form as a sterilizing agent, fumigant and insecticide. This agent is well known as a sterilant of drugs, hospital equipment, disposable and reusable medical items. Most human exposure is occupational, although some exposure occurs from air pollution and tobacco smoking.
An overview of selected emerging outdoor airborne pollutants and air quality issues: The need to reduce uncertainty about environmental and human impacts
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2020
The major use of ethylene oxide is associated with the manufacturing of ethylene glycol (as a chemical intermediate). Galarneau et al. (2016) report that average concentrations often exceed provincial standards across Canada. Measurements (NAPS) in Quesnel (British Columbia) during the period 2009–2013 have shown maximum concentrations up to 162 times the annual provincial standard and 1.89 times the 24-hr standard (the Quebec provincial standard was used here since British Columbia has no standard for this compound). The short-term acute effects of ethylene oxide in humans mostly poses a risk to the central nervous system (depression) and may cause irritation of the eyes and mucous membranes while the long-term chronic exposure in humans may induce damage to the brain and nervous system (ATSDR 1990). EPA has classified ethylene oxide as carcinogenic in humans (lymphoid and breast cancer) (https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/ethylene-oxide.pdf). This compound is also mutagenic, irritates the throat and lungs and is also an anesthetic gas (ATSDR 1990). The lifetime of ethylene oxide is very long and is about 200 days on average (Seinfeld and Pandis 2006). Despite the health and security risk (flammable), very little monitoring takes place in Canada (i.e. at only 7 sites in Canada, see Galarneau et al. 2016). This practice makes the follow-up of this substance difficult for scientific studies (monitoring, modeling, air quality forecasting) and exposes the Canadian population to unknown risks. In 2017, reported industrial emissions of ethylene oxide amount for 1.6 tons in Canada (ECCC 2019).