Formamide

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

EMERGENCY OVERVIEW Appearance: clear, colorless liquid. Warning! Harmful if swallowed, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. May cause harm to the unborn child. Causes eye and skin irritation. May cause respiratory tract irritation. May cause central nervous system effects. May cause liver damage. Hygroscopic (absorbs moisture from the air). Target Organs: Central nervous system, liver, eyes, reproductive system, skin.

Potential health effects

Eye: Causes eye irritation. Skin: Causes skin irritation. Harmful if absorbed through the skin. Not expected to cause an allergic skin reaction. Studies have shown that formamide can be absorbed through the skin in quantities sufficient to produce systemic toxicity even though it is not very acutely toxic via this route and effective doses were relatively high. Ingestion: Harmful if swallowed. May cause irritation of the digestive tract. May cause central nervous system effects. Inhalation: Inhalation of high concentrations may cause central nervous system effects characterized by nausea, headache, dizziness, unconsciousness and coma. May cause respiratory tract irritation. Material has a very low vapor pressure at room temperature, so inhalation exposures are not expected unless material is heated or misted. Chronic: Prolonged or repeated exposure may cause adverse reproductive effects. May cause fetal effects. Chronic exposure may cause liver damage. There is a danger of cumulative effects. Animal experiments show that small amounts of formamide, if repeatedly inhaled, ingested, or absorbed through the skin, can cause embryotoxicity. At levels sufficiently high to result in maternal illness, fetal malformations and fetal death have occurred.Rats exposed (occluded doses to intact skin) to dose level of 3000 mg/kg/day for 6 hrs/day, 5 days/week for 3 months had a decrease in the absolute weight of the testes and an increase in the number of rats with bilateral testicular tubular