PERCHLOROETHYLENE INDUSTRIAL

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

Emergency Overview Color: Colorless Physical State: Liquid. Odor: Characteristic Hazards of product: WARNING! May cause central nervous system effects; can cause death if too much is breathed. Harmful if inhaled. May cause skin irritation. Aspiration hazard. Can enter lungs and cause damage to body systems. Keep upwind of spill. Stay out of low areas. Suspect cancer hazard. May cause cancer. ®(TM)*Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow

Potential health effects

Eye Contact: May cause pain disproportionate to the level of irritation to eye tissues. May cause slight temporary eye irritation. Low vapor concentrations may cause eye irritation; these concentrations are easily attainable at room temperature. Skin Contact: Brief contact may cause skin irritation with local redness. Prolonged contact may cause skin irritation with local redness. Repeated contact may cause skin burns. Symptoms may include pain, severe local redness, swelling, and tissue damage. May cause drying and flaking of the skin. Skin Absorption: Prolonged skin contact is unlikely to result in absorption of harmful amounts. Skin Sensitization For the minor component(s) Skin contact may cause an allergic skin reaction in a small proportion of individuals. Inhalation: In confined or poorly ventilated areas, vapor can readily accumulate and can cause unconsciousness and death. Dizziness may occur at 200 ppm perchloroethylene; progressively higher levels may also cause nasal irritation, nausea, incoordination, drunkenness, and over 1000 ppm, unconsciousness and death. A single brief (minutes)inhalation exposure to levels above 6000 ppm perchloroethylene may be immediately fatal. Based on structural analogy and/or equivocal data in animals, excessive exposure may potentially increase sensitivity to epinephrine and increase myocardial irritability (irregular heartbeats). Alcohol consumed before or after exposure may increase adverse effects. Ingestion: Very low toxicity if swallowed. Small amounts swallowed incidentally as a result of normal handling operations are not likely to cause injury; however, swallowing larger amounts may cause injury.

Aspiration hazard

Aspiration into the lungs may occur during ingestion or vomiting, resulting in rapid absorption and injury to other body systems. Effects of Repeated Exposure: In humans, effects have been reported on the following organs: Central nervous system. In animals, effects have been reported on the following organs: Central nervous system. Kidney. Liver. Observations in animals include: Anesthetic or narcotic effects.

Cancer information

Perchloroethylene has been shown to increase the incidence of tumors in certain strains of mice and rats. Other long-term inhalation studies in rats failed to show tumorigenic response. Human data are limited and have not established an association between perchloroethylene exposure and cancer. Perchloroethylene is not believed to pose a measurable carcinogenic risk to man when handled as recommended. Birth Defects/Developmental Effects: Has been toxic to the fetus in laboratory animals at doses toxic to the mother. Reproductive Effects: In laboratory animal studies, effects on reproduction have been seen only at doses that produced significant toxicity to the parent animals.