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Inhalation Toxicology of Chemical Agents
Published in Brian J. Lukey, James A. Romano, Salem Harry, Chemical Warfare Agents, 2019
Stanley W. Hulet, Paul A. Dabisch, Robert L. Kristovich, Douglas R. Sommerville, Robert J. Mioduszewski
It should be emphasized that the toxicity estimates in Table 11.6 are only intended for healthy adult human males (70 kg), since the primary focus for DOD research has been to protect military personnel in a CW agent battlefield environment. However, the general civilian population can also be exposed to CW agents due to deliberate (i.e., terrorism) and/or accidental exposures. Such exposures are of particular concern due to the possibility of a CW agent release from the U.S. domestic unitary CW agent stockpile (NRC, 2003). In response to this problem, the NRC developed acute exposure guideline level (AEGL) values for the nerve agents and mustard in 2003. There are three levels of AEGL values: AEGL-1, AEGL-2, and AEGL-3, which roughly correspond to vapor concentrations that will produce in the general population (including susceptible individuals) mild (reversible) effects, severe (long-lasting) effects or impaired ability to escape, and death, respectively. AEGL values are roughly equal to or less than the 1% effect level for the general population. Early results from the DOD Low-Level Program were used in the development of the nerve agent AEGLs (Anthony et al., 2003, 2004; Mioduszewski et al., 2002a, b). However, the AEGLs are not appropriate for casualty assessment purposes (unlike the values in Table 11.6).
Concentration-time extrapolation of short-term inhalation exposure levels: dimethyl sulfide, a case study using a chemical-specific toxic load exponent
Published in Inhalation Toxicology, 2018
Eugene Demchuk, Shannon L. Ball, San L. Le, Andrew J. Prussia
Information on health effects caused by DMS inhalation exposures was borrowed from the AIHA sources (AIHA 2016). To this information, methods recommended by NAS (NRC 2001) were applied. When possible, these methods were extended past routine practices of the AEGL Committee to reflect the current level of computational toxicology method development. The derived knowledge was transformed into novel reference exposure levels, which were validated graphically using LTE plots. They demonstrate that the short-term inhalation exposure levels are in good agreement with the range of known health effects caused by DMS exposures in laboratory animals and in humans (Figures 5–7). The approach detailed here could be generalized to other chemicals with single duration guidance and thus fill a data gap in short-term inhalation toxicology.