1,3-Dibromo-5,5-dimethylhydantoin

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

CHEMWATCH HAZARD RATINGS Min Max Flammability: 1 Toxicity: 2 Body Contact: 3 Min/Nil=0 Low=1 Reactivity: 2 Moderate=2 High=3 Chronic: 3 Extreme=4 CANADIAN WHMIS SYMBOLS EMERGENCY OVERVIEW RISK Contact with combustible material may cause fire. Harmful if swallowed. Causes burns. Risk of serious damage to eyes. May cause SENSITISATION by skin contact. Very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.

Potential Acute Health Effects

SWALLOWED Accidental ingestion of the material may be harmful; animal experiments indicate that ingestion of less than 150 gram may be fatal or may produce serious damage to the health of the individual. The material can produce chemical burns within the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract following ingestion. Hydantoin derivatives may damage the stem cell which acts as the precursor to components of the blood and, as a result, produce blood dyscrasias. Most blood cells originate from a single pluripotent stem cell which are present in the circulating blood, but differentiates only in intact bone marrow. EYE The material can produce chemical burns to the eye following direct contact. Vapors or mists may be extremely irritating. If applied to the eyes, this material causes severe eye damage. SKIN The material can produce chemical burns following direct contactwith the skin. Skin contact is not thought to produce harmful health effects (as classified using animal models). Systemic harm, however, has been identified following exposure of animals by at least one other route and the material may still produce health damage following entry through wounds, lesions or abrasions. Open cuts, abraded or irritated skin should not be exposed to this material. Solution of material in moisture on the skin, or perspiration, may markedly increase skin corrosion and accelerate tissue destruction. Entry into the blood-stream, through, for example, cuts, abrasions or lesions, may produce systemic injury with harmful effects. Examine the skin prior to the use of the material and ensure that any external damage is suitably protected. INHALED If inhaled, this material can irritate the throat andlungs of some persons. The material is not thought to produce adverse health effects following inhalation (as classified using animal models). Nevertheless, adverse effects have been produced following exposure of animals by at least one other route and good hygiene practice requires that exposure be kept to a minimum and that suitable control measures be used in an occupational setting. Persons with impaired respiratory function, airway diseases and conditions such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis, may incur further disability if excessive concentrations of particulate are inhaled.

Potential chronic health

Repeated or prolonged exposure to corrosives may result in the erosion of teeth, inflammatory and ulcerative changes in the mouth and necrosis (rarely) of the jaw. Bronchial irritation, with cough, and frequent attacks of bronchial pneumonia may ensue. Skin contact with the material is more likely to cause a sensitization reaction in some persons compared to the general population. Limited evidence suggests that repeated or long-term occupational exposure may produce cumulative health effects involving organs or biochemical systems. There is some evidence that human exposure to the material may result in developmental toxicity. This evidence is based on animal studies where effects have been observed in the absence of marked maternal toxicity, or at around the same dose levels as other toxic effects but which are not secondary non-specific consequences of the other toxic effects. Exposure to the material may cause concerns for human fertility, on the basis that similar materials provide some evidence of impaired fertility in the absence of toxic effects, or evidence of impaired fertility occurring at around the same dose levels as other toxic effects, but which are not a secondary non-specific consequence of other toxic effects. . Imidazole is structurally related to histamine and has been used as an antagonist to counteract the effects of excess histamine found in certain induced physiological conditions (it therefore acts as an antihistamine). Imidazoles have been reported to disrupt male fertility through disruption of testicular function. 2-Methylimidazole decreased luteinising hormone secretion and tissue interstitial fluid testosterone concentration two hours after injection into Sprague Dawley rats. Imidazoles bind to cytochrome P450 haeme, resulting in inhibition of catalysis. However, 2-substituted imidazoles are considered to be poor inhibitors. Imidazole is probably an inducer of cytochrome P4502E1. In general, inducers of this isozyme stabilise the enzyme by preventing phosporylation of a serine which leads to haeme loss. Several drugs containing an imidazole moiety were retained and bound in connective tissue when administered to laboratory animals. The bound material was primarily recovered from elastin (70%) and the collagen. It is postulated that reaction with aldehydes gives an aldol condensation product. Long term exposure to high dust concentrations may cause changes in lung function i.e. pneumoconiosis; caused by particles less than 0.5 micron penetrating and remaining in the lung. Chronic intoxication with ionic bromides, historically, has resulted from medical use of bromides but not from environmental or occupational exposure; depression, hallucinosis, and schizophreniform psychosis can be seen in the absence of other signs of intoxication. Bromides may also induce sedation, irritability, agitation, delirium, memory loss, confusion, disorientation, forgetfulness (aphasias), dysarthria, weakness, fatigue, vertigo, stupor, coma, decreased appetite, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, hallucinations, an acne like rash on the face, legs and trunk, known as bronchoderma (seen in 25-30% of case involving bromide ion), and a profuse discharge from the nostrils (coryza). Ataxia and generalised hyperreflexia have also been observed. Correlation of neurologic symptoms with blood levels of bromide is inexact. The use of substances such as brompheniramine, as antihistamines, largely reflect current day usage of bromides; ionic bromides have been largely withdrawn from therapeutic use due to their toxicity. Several cases of foetal abnormalities have been described in mothers who took large doses of bromides during pregnancy. When administered by inhalation, formaldehyde induced squamous cell carcinomas of the nasal cavity in rats of both sexes. Although excess occurrence of a number of cancers has been reported in humans, the evidence for a possible involvement of formaldehyde is strongest for nasal and nasopharangeal cancer. The occurrence of these cancers showed an exposure-response gradient in more than one study, but the numbers of exposed cases were often small and some studies did not show excesses In humans. Formaldehyde exposure has been associated with cancers of the lung, nasopharynx and oropharynx and nasal passages. Several investigations have concluded that specific respiratory sensitisation occurs based on positive bronchial provocation tests amongst formaldehyde-exposed workers. These studies have been criticised for methodological reasons. One large study however revealed that 5% of persons exposed to formaldehyde and had asthma-like symptoms met the study criteria for formaldehyde-induced asthma; this included a positive response on a bronchial provocation test with 2.5 mg/m3 formaldehyde. Although differential individual sensitivity has been established, the mechanism for this increased sensitivity is unknown. There is limited evidence that formaldehyde has any adverse effect on reproduction or development in humans. An investigation of reproductive function in female workers exposed to formaldehyde in the garment industry, revealed an increased incidence of menstrual disorders, inflammatory disease of the reproductive tract, sterility, anaemia, and low birth weights amongst off-spring.