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1 Butane
Pages 13-47

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From page 13...
... Both the document and the AEGL values were then reviewed by the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Acute Exposure Guideline Levels.
From page 14...
... Quantitative data for setting AEGL values are sparse. Quantitative human data include an old study with human volunteers focused on the warning properties of butane.
From page 15...
... The calculated 10-min AEGL-2 value is greater than the lower explosive limit and that the other AEGL-2 values are greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit. The AEGL-3 values for butane are based on an acute exposure study with rats and mice (Shugaev 1969)
From page 16...
... , which is greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 17...
... . These values are greater than the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm)
From page 18...
... 1987 Vapor pressure 243 kPa (25°C) ECB 2000 Flammability Extremely flammable ECB 2000 Explosive Lower explosive limit = 1.9% Lewis 1999 3 Conversion factors 1 mg/m = 0.422 ppm Low et al.
From page 19...
... Severe encephalopathy was observed in a 15-year-old girl as the result of abusive butane inhalation. She had been inhaling butane repeatedly for 4 weeks until an acute incident occurred.
From page 20...
... studied the warning properties of several alkanes, including butane. In a continuous exposure test, subjects were exposed to butane at slowly increasing concentrations up to 50,000 ppm for an unknown duration (but at least 10 min)
From page 21...
... Severe encephalopathy was observed in a 15-year-old girl as the result of butane abuse. She had been inhaling butane repeatedly for 4 weeks, until an acute incident occurred that required cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
From page 22...
... Quantitative exposure estimates are lacking for all cases. In the case of butane abuse, most of the health effects described in case reports are thought to be induced by repeated exposures and abuse of other chemicals cannot be ruled out.
From page 23...
... Effects observed were "light anesthesia," "loss of posture" (complete anesthesia) , and death.
From page 24...
... The lowest concentration at which ventricular fibrillation occurred was approximately 35,000 ppm (estimated from a graph) ; epinephrine was injected after 2 min.
From page 25...
... The concentrations were analyzed periodically and adjustments made to maintain the predetermined concentrations. Guinea pigs exposed at 21,000-28,000 ppm showed occasional chewing movements and irregular or rapid breathing, but the effects did not worsen as the exposure duration increased.
From page 26...
... Duration Effect Reference Guinea pigs 21,000-28,000 Up to 2 h Increased respiration rate; increased Nuckolls 1933 sniffing and chewing behavior. Guinea pigs 50,000-56,000 Up to 2 h Increased respiration rate; increased Nuckolls 1933 retching and chewing behavior; dazed appearance.
From page 27...
... In another study, no deaths occurred in mice exposed to initial concentrations of butane at 130,000 or 220,000 ppm for 2 h; mortality was 40 and 60% at concentrations of 270,000 and 310,000 ppm, respectively. No deaths occurred in guinea pigs exposed to butane at 50,000-56,000 ppm for 2 h.
From page 28...
... DATA ANALYSIS FOR AEGL-1 5.1. Summary of Human Data Relevant to AEGL-1 Case reports of butane exposure do not provide any quantitative data that could be used for deriving AEGL-1 values.
From page 29...
... Guinea pigs exposed at 21,000-28,000 ppm for up to 2 h showed occasional chewing movements and irregular or rapid breathing, while animals exposed at 50,000-56,000 ppm also had a "dazed appearance" in the second hour of exposure but were still able to walk. The description of the results suggests that the effects did not increase in severity with continuation of exposure.
From page 30...
... These values are considered protective of the irregular breathing observed in guinea pigs exposed to butane at 21,000-28,000 ppm for up to 2 h.
From page 31...
... , which is greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 32...
... The authors subjected the individual animal data sets to probit analysis with exposure duration and exposure concentration as independent variables. An exponential function (Cn × t = k)
From page 33...
... Exposure to butane at slowly increasing concentrations up to 50,000 ppm (total exposure duration was at least 10 min) or at 100,000 ppm (short exposure, exact duration unknown)
From page 34...
... , which is greater than the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 35...
... Although case reports indicate that butane might cause arrhythmias in humans exposed at high concentrations, no adequate human or animal data are available to evaluate this end point in a quantitative way. Similarly, case reports indicate that single exposure to high concentrations of butane might cause severe brain damage in the fetus, but no adequate data are available for a quantitative evaluation.
From page 36...
... , which is greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 37...
... Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account. b The AEGL-1 value is greater than 10% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm.
From page 38...
... 2002. Butane abuse associ ated encephalopathy.
From page 39...
... 2001. Standing Operating Procedures for Developing Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Hazardous Chemicals.
From page 40...
... 2000. Multiple organ failure following inhalation of butane gas: A case report [in German]
From page 41...
... 8-h AEGL-1: Set equivalent to 1-h AEGL-1 of 5,500 ppmb (13,000 mg/m3) a The AEGL-1 value is greater than 10% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm.
From page 42...
... b The AEGL-2 value is greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 43...
... a The AEGL-3 values are greater than the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 44...
... 44 Acute Exposure Guideline Levels APPENDIX B CATEGORY GRAPH FOR BUTANE Butane Toxicity 1000000 100000 AEGL - 3 AEGL - 2 Human - No effect 10000 Human Discomfort AEGL - 1 Human - Disabling Animal - No effect ppm 1000 Animal - Discomfort Animal Disabling 100 Animal - Some Lethality Animal - Lethal AEGL 10 1 0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 Minutes FIGURE B-1 Category graph of toxicity data and AEGLs values for butane.
From page 45...
... Exposure route/Concentrations/Durations: Subjects were exposed at slowly increasing concentrations up to 50,000 ppm (continuous exposure test, total exposure was at least 10 min) , followed by exposure to fixed exposure concentrations for a short duration (exact duration unknown)
From page 46...
... , which is greater than 50% of the lower explosive limit for butane in air of 19,000 ppm. Therefore, extreme safety considerations against the hazard of explosion must be taken into account.
From page 47...
... The 10-min value is supported by human data. Exposure to slowly increasing concentrations of butane up to 50,000 ppm (total exposure duration at least 10 min)


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