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Organic Chemicals
Published in William J. Rea, Kalpana D. Patel, Reversibility of Chronic Disease and Hypersensitivity, Volume 4, 2017
William J. Rea, Kalpana D. Patel
Propylene is used to manufacture the monomer acrylonitrile. It is converted by a catalytic reaction involving ammonia and oxygen. Sixty percent is converted into synthetic fibers. Twelve percent is used as a constituent of copolymers (e.g., acrolein) for synthetic rubber and a further 12% is used for acrylonitryl, butadiene, styrene (ABS) polymers. Acrylonitrile has been found in sheetrock paper and is suspected of being carcinogenic.392,395–397 The most chemically sensitive patient does not tolerate clothes made of these materials or newly hung drywall.
Cyanides, sulfides, and carbon monoxide
Published in Bev-Lorraine True, Robert H. Dreisbach, Dreisbach’s HANDBOOK of POISONING, 2001
Bev-Lorraine True, Robert H. Dreisbach
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is used as a fumigant and in chemical synthesis. Acrylonitrile is used in the production of synthetic rubber. Cyanamide is used as a fertilizer and as a source of hydrogen cyanide. Cyanogen chloride is used in chemical synthesis. Cyanide salts are used in metal cleaning, hardening, and refining and in the recovery of gold from ores. Nitroprussides are used in chemical synthesis and as hypotensive agents. The seeds of apple, cherry, peach, apricot, plum, jetberry bush, and toyon contain cyanogenetic glycosides such as amygdalin that release cyanide on digestion. The fatal dose of these seeds varies from 5 to 25 seeds for a small child. They are only dangerous if the seed capsule is broken.
Quantification of Occupational and Environmental Exposures in Epidemiological Studies
Published in Peter G. Shields, Cancer Risk Assessment, 2005
Another facility-specific exposure assessment procedure has been carried out among workers exposed to acrylonitrile (40). The study comprised over 25,000 workers in eight monomer, fiber, and resin companies from 1952 to 1983. Multiple visits to the companies were made and over 100 interviews of workers with more than 10 years of employment were conducted at the companies. Historical records, including data on over 18,000 measurements taken by the companies since 1977 and over 400 measurements, were collected by the study investigators. Three thousand six hundred exposure groups were formed from 127,000 job entries noted in personnel records, based on similar tasks, locations, and other exposures, and a similar distribution of exposures to acrylonitrile. Special procedures were used to reduce the exposure misclassification that may occur with maintenance workers, engineers, and other workers who may perform specialized tasks that vary in time and are not adequately reflected by a job title. Names of workers in these jobs were sent to the companies and unions to quantify the time each worker spent in acrylonitrile areas. A software program developed specifically for this study (Job Exposure Profiles), was used to organize and retain all the information available by exposure group. Quantitative estimates of acrylonitrile exposure were developed using a second software program that documented the derivation of each estimate and facilitated data review. Four methods were used to estimate exposures in a hierarchical fashion: arithmetic means; a time-weighting method, which weighted acrylo-nitrile concentrations in different areas by the time spent in those areas; a deterministic method that estimated the impact of changes in the workplace on exposures; and professional judgment. Over 85% of the estimates based on professional judgment were for jobs in areas without acrylonitrile exposure. Only a qualitative assessment was performed for exposures other than acrylonitrile. To evaluate the ability of the time-weighting and deterministic methods to predict actual measurement data, estimates derived from these two methods were developed independently of the study and compared to actual measurement data. The estimates from the time-weighting method underestimated the measurements by 24% and had a standard deviation relative to the measurement mean of 166%. The estimates from the deterministic method had a positive bias of 1% and a relative standard deviation of 236%. The methodologies developed for this study have pragmatic and theoretical applications.
Carcinogenic and health risk assessment of respiratory exposure to acrylonitrile, 1,3-butadiene and styrene in the petrochemical industry using the US Environmental Protection Agency method
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2022
Vahid Ahmadi-Moshiran, Ali Asghar Sajedian, Ahmad Soltanzadeh, Fatemeh Seifi, Rozhin Koobasi, Neda Nikbakht, Mohsen Sadeghi-Yarandi
Acrylonitrile is also one of the compounds used in the petrochemical industry. Acrylonitrile is a clear, colorless, highly flammable liquid with an unpleasant and irritating odor [4,21]. This material is used to produce carbon fibers based on poly-acrylonitrile for its widespread use in composite technology [22]. This compound is produced in the form of granules in the petrochemical industry. Acrylonitrile poisoning in humans causes eye and nose irritation, weakness, difficulty breathing, dizziness, impaired decision making, cyanosis, nausea and seizures. Acrylonitrile also causes severe skin burns. Chronic exposure to this compound has also been shown to damage normal liver and kidney function [23]. Preliminary epidemiological studies have shown a potential association between occupational exposure to acrylonitrile and respiratory cancer [24]. In 1999, the IARC reduced acrylonitrile carcinogenicity classification from potential human carcinogen (group 2A) to probable human carcinogen (group 2B) [25,26].
Susceptibility to the acute toxicity of acrylonitrile in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats: protective effect of phenethyl isothiocyanate, a phytochemical CYP2E1 inhibitor
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2021
Fang Li, Ying Dong, Rongzhu Lu, Bobo Yang, Suhua Wang, Guangwei Xing, Yuanyue Jiang
Acrylonitrile (AN) is a highly toxic compound that is widely used in many industrial and medical products, such as acrylic fibers, resins, and plastics (Wang et al. 2010). The primary routes of potential human industrial exposure to AN are inhalation and dermal contact. Potential nonindustrial AN exposures result from contact with AN-made industrial products as well as drinking contaminated water, inhaling burning biomass, and cigarette smoking (Marsh and Zimmerman 2015). AN has been classified as a possible human carcinogen and included in the priority list of hazardous substances by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Globally, approximately 9 billion pounds of AN are produced annually (Yuanqing et al. 2013). Accidents associated with acute AN intoxication have occurred often. For example, there was an AN leak on a train transporting chemicals in Belgium in 2013 (De Smedt et al. 2014) and a fire outbreak at a chemical plant close to Cologne/Germany in 2008 (Leng and Gries 2014). The incidents resulted in high concentrations of AN in the air and the formation of more toxic AN vapors. The mean concentration of AN in the air of the disaster site was 7 ppm within 8 h and 1.6 ppm within 120 h, and the highest value was 20 ppm, while the maximum allowable value of AN is 3 ppm (7 mg/m3) according to the guidelines of the Ordinance for Hazardous Compounds (Leng and Gries 2014).
Acrylonitrile’s genotoxicity profile: mutagenicity in search of an underlying molecular mechanism
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2023
Richard J. Albertini, Christopher R. Kirman, Dale E. Strother
Published papers and other reports were identified for this review from a variety of sources including the US National Library of Medicine’s PubMed database and Google Scholar. Searches from these sources used the primary key word “acrylonitrile” and several secondary key words: “genotoxicity,” “mutation,” “cytogenetics,” “DNA damage,” DNA adducts,” “cancer/carcinogenicity,” “germ-cell genotoxicity,” “oxidative DNA damage,” “oxidative stress,” “lipid peroxidation,” “chromosome aberrations,” “aneuploidy” or combinations. Studies were also identified from authoritative reviews in the published literature that focused on carcinogenicity, heritable effects and/or genotoxicity of acrylonitrile, as well from those periodically published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Attempts were made to obtain all papers cited in these reviews for evaluation. Papers were also obtained from the literature archives of the Acrylonitrile Group of manufacturers which proved to be a source of older reports and unpublished research reports. The 1985 book, “Evaluation of Short-Term Tests for Carcinogens” (Volume 5, Progress in Mutation Research), also reported on older tests of ACN’s genotoxicity as well as studies in systems not reported elsewhere. Finally, studies of ACN’s genotoxicity conducted by or commissioned by industry were reviewed. Reports of genotoxicity or lack thereof were occasionally included in reports of test performance for one or another test system. When possible, all studies identified from these many sources were obtained for review. The intent was to include all papers relevant to an assessment of ACN’s genotoxicity. The earliest studies identified were from the 1960s.