Interim 1: 12/2008 1 2 3 ACUTE EXPOSURE GUIDELINE LEVELS (AEGLs) 4 FOR 5 6 SULFURIC ACID 7 SULFUR TRIOXIDE 8 OLEUM 9 10 (CAS Reg. No. 7664-93-9) 11 (CAS Reg. No. 7446-11-9) 12 (CAS Reg. No. 8014-95-7) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 INTERIM ACUTE EXPOSURE GUIDELINE LEVELS 22 (AEGLs) 23 24 25 26 27 For 28 NAS/COT Subcommittee for AEGLS 29 30 2009 31 32 33 34 SULFURIC ACID, SULFUR TRIOXIDE, OLEUM Interim 1: 12/2008 1 PREFACE 2 3 Under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) P. L. 92-463 of 1972, the 4 National Advisory Committee for Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Substances 5 (NAC/AEGL Committee) has been established to identify, review and interpret relevant toxicological 6 and other scientific data and develop AEGLs for high priority, acutely toxic chemicals. 7 8 AEGLs represent threshold exposure limits for the general public and are applicable to 9 emergency exposure periods ranging from 10 minutes to 8 hours. Three levels Χ AEGL-1, AEGL-2 and 10 AEGL-3 Χ are developed for each of five exposure periods (10 and 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, and 8 11 hours) and are distinguished by varying degrees of severity of toxic effects. The three AEGLs are 12 defined as follows: 13 14 AEGL-1 is the airborne concentration (expressed as parts per million or milligrams per cubic 15 meter [ppm or mg/m 3]) of a substance above which it is predicted that the general population, including 16 susceptible individuals, could experience notable discomfort, irritation, or certain asymptomatic, 17 non-sensory effects. However, the effects are not disabling and are transient and reversible upon 18 cessation of exposure. 19 20 AEGL-2 is the airborne concentration (expressed as ppm or mg/m ;) of a substance above which it 21 is predicted that the general population, including susceptible individuals, could experience irreversible 22 or other serious, long-lasting adverse health effects, or an impaired ability to escape. 23 24 AEGL-3 is the airborne concentration (expressed as ppm or mg/m ;) of a substance above which it 25 is predicted that the general population, including susceptible individuals, could experience 26 life-threatening health effects or death. 27 28 Airborne concentrations below the AEGL-1 represent exposure levels that could produce mild 29 and progressively increasing but transient and nondisabling odor, taste, and sensory irritation or certain 30 asymptomatic, non-sensory effects. With increasing airborne concentrations above each AEGL, there is 31 a progressive increase in the likelihood of occurrence and the severity of effects described for each 32 corresponding AEGL. Although the AEGL values represent threshold levels for the general public, 33 including susceptible subpopulations, such as infants, children, the elderly, persons with asthma, and 34 those with other illnesses, it is recognized that individuals, subject to unique or idiosyncratic responses, 35 could experience the effects described at concentrations below the corresponding AEGL. 36 ii SULFURIC ACID, SULFUR TRIOXIDE, OLEUM Interim 1: 12/2008 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 3 PREFACE..................................................................................................................................................................... ii 4 LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................................................v 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..........................................................................................................................................vi 6 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................1 7 2. HUMAN TOXICITY DATA...................................................................................................................................3 8 2.1. Acute Lethality .................................................................................................................................................3 9 2.1.1. Case Reports ............................................................................................................................................3 10 2.2. Nonlethal Toxicity............................................................................................................................................3 11 2.2.1. Case Reports ............................................................................................................................................3 12 2.2.2. Experimental Studies ...............................................................................................................................4 13 2.2.3. Occupational / Epidemiological Studies ................................................................................................26 14 2.3. Neurotoxicity..................................................................................................................................................27 15 2.4. Developmental / Reproductive toxicity ..........................................................................................................27 16 2.5. Genotoxicity ...................................................................................................................................................28 17 2.6. Carcinogenicity...............................................................................................................................................28 18 2.7. Summary of human data .................................................................................................................................28 19 3. ANIMAL TOXICITY DATA................................................................................................................................29 20 3.1. Acute lethality.................................................................................................................................................29 21 3.1.1. Rats ........................................................................................................................................................29 22 3.1.2. Mice.......................................................................................................................................................30 23 3.1.3. Rabbits...................................................................................................................................................31 24 3.1.4. Other species..........................................................................................................................................31 25 3.2. Nonlethal toxicity ...........................................................................................................................................34 26 3.2.1. Monkeys.................................................................................................................................................34 27 3.2.2. Dogs.......................................................................................................................................................34 28 3.2.3. Rats ........................................................................................................................................................35 29 3.2.4. Mice.......................................................................................................................................................36 30 3.2.5. Rabbits...................................................................................................................................................37 31 3.2.6. Other species..........................................................................................................................................37 32 3.3. Developmental / Reproductive toxicity ..........................................................................................................41 33 3.4. Genotoxicity ...................................................................................................................................................42 34 3.5. Carcinogenicity...............................................................................................................................................42 35 3.6. Summary of animal data .................................................................................................................................44 36 4. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS............................................................................................................................45 37 4.1. Metabolism and Disposition...........................................................................................................................45 38 4.2. Mechanism of Toxicity...................................................................................................................................46 39 4.3. Other relevant information..............................................................................................................................46 40 4.3.1. Hygroscopy and species variability in deposition..................................................................................46 41 4.3.2. Species variability in effects ..................................................................................................................47 42 4.3.3. Intraspecies variability / Susceptible populations ..................................................................................48