4-Chlorobenzophenone

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

CHEMWATCH HAZARD RATINGS Min Max Flammability 1 Toxicity 0 Min/Nil=0 Body Contact 2 Low=1 Reactivity Moderate=2 1 High=3 Chronic 2 Extreme=4 CANADIAN WHMIS SYMBOLS EMERGENCY OVERVIEW RISK May cause SENSITISATION by skin contact. Irritating to eyes, respiratory system and skin.

Potential Acute Health Effects

SWALLOWED ■ The material has NOT been classified as "harmful by ingestion". This is because of the lack of corroborating animal or human evidence. EYE ■ This material can cause eye irritation and damage in some persons. SKIN ■ This material can cause inflammation of the skin oncontact in some persons. ■ The material may accentuate any pre-existing dermatitis condition. ■ Skin contact is not thought to have harmful health effects, however 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. ■ 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 ■ The material can cause respiratory irritation in some persons. The body's response to such irritation can cause further lung damage. ■ 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

Long-term exposure to respiratory irritants may result in disease of the airways involving difficult breathing and related systemic problems. 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. 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. . Benzophenones are used in medicines, UV stabilisers, aroma retention agents. The family is listed among the "the chemicals suspected of having endocrine disrupting effects" Benzophenone, itself does not exhibit estrogenic activity; in contrast the benzophenones often exhibit estrogenic or anti-androgenic activity in various assays. Hydroxylation at the 3 or 4-position produces substantial estrogenic activity while substitution elsewhere produces negative or weakly positive activity. Hydroxylation at the 2-position may enhance anti-androgenic activity.