Aziprotryne

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

CHEMWATCH HAZARD RATINGS Min Max Flammability: 1 Toxicity: 2 Body Contact: 0 Min/Nil=0 Low=1 Reactivity: 3 Moderate=2 High=3 Chronic: 2 Extreme=4 CANADIAN WHMIS SYMBOLS EMERGENCY OVERVIEW RISK

Potential Acute Health Effects

SWALLOWED Accidental ingestion of the material may be damaging to the health of the individual. Triazine derivatives have been shown to cause structural damage to theliver in animal studies. EYE Although the material is not thought to be an irritant, direct contact with the eye may cause transient discomfort characterized by tearing or conjunctival redness (as with windburn). Slight abrasive damage may also result. SKIN The material is not thought to produce adverse health effects or skin irritation following contact (as classified using animal models). Nevertheless, good hygiene practice requires that exposure be kept to a minimum and that suitable gloves be used in an occupational setting. 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 is not thought to produce either adverse health effects or irritation of the respiratory tract 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

There has been some concern that this material can cause cancer or mutations but there is not enough data to make an assessment. 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. Epidemiological studies have associated long-term exposures to triazine herbicides with increase risk of ovarian cancer in female farm workers in Italy and of breast cancer in the general population of Kentucky in the United States. In experiments with female F344 rats, atrazine induced tumours of the mammary gland and reproductive organs. Atrazine also caused lengthening of the oestrus cycle, a dose-dependent increase in the plasma levels of 17beta-oestradiol and early onset of mammary and pituitary tumours in female Prague- Dawley rats. Investigations into the mechanism of these apparent oestrogenic effects have not been able to demonstrate any consistent interactions with triazine herbicides with the oestrogen receptor or effects on receptor-mediated responses. Atrazine, simazine and propazine have been shown to induce aromatase activity in a human adrenocortical carcinoma cell line. This response was observed at concentrations in the submicromolar range. Aromatase is a circulating enzyme which converts androstenedione (generated in the adrenals) to oestrone in peripheral tissues such as adipose tissues. Oestrone subsequently undergoes conversion to oestradiol which binds to oestrogen receptors in many tissues with induction of tumours. In addition, many human breast cancers contain aromatase. (Breast cancer therapies, based on aromatase inhibitors, are now available.) The effects of triazine herbicides and some of their metabolites on aromatase activity may provide a partial explanation for the observed increase in plasma oestradiol in rats, together with the observed oestrogen-mediated toxicities in vivo. [1] [1] Sanderson et al: Environmental Health Perspectives, 109, pp 1027-1031, 2001 Suggestive evidence between atrazine (or triazines) exposure and an increased risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer have been reported. Although these data provide a suspicion of carcinogenicity, the limited number of investigations and study limitations preclude drawing conclusions regarding these cancer types.