Section 1 - CHEMICAL PRODUCT AND COMPANY IDENTIFICATION

PRODUCT NAME

NAPHTHALENE, ISOPROPYLATED

NFPA

PRODUCT USE

Intermediate.

SYNONYMS

"isopropylated naphthalene"

Section 2 - HAZARDS IDENTIFICATION

CANADIAN WHMIS SYMBOLS

EMERGENCY OVERVIEW

RISK

POTENTIAL HEALTH EFFECTS

ACUTE HEALTH EFFECTS

SWALLOWED

  Although ingestion is not thought to produce harmful effects, the material may still be damaging to the health of the individual following ingestion, especially where pre-  existing organ (e.g. liver, kidney) damage is evident. Present definitions of harmful or toxic substances are generally based on doses producing mortality (death) rather than those producing morbidity (disease, ill-health). Gastrointestinal tract discomfort may produce nausea and vomiting. In an occupational setting however, ingestion of insignificant quantities is not thought to be cause for concern.  Considered an unlikely route of entry in commercial/industrial environments.  Ingestion of naphthalene and its congeners may produce abdominal cramps with nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headache, profuse perspiration, listlessness, confusion, and in severe poisonings, coma with or without convulsions. Irritation of the urinary bladder may also occur (presumably due to the excretory products of naphthalene metabolism) and produce urgency, dysuria, and the passage of brown or black urine with or without albumin or casts. These effects may disappear within a few days and have not been associated with haemolysis which is a prominent finding in naphthalene poisoning. Severe naphthalene poisoning in humans produces haemoglobinuria, methaemoglobinaemia, the production of Heinz bodies and death. Methaemoglobinemia produces a form of oxygen starvation (anoxia). Symptoms include cyanosis (a bluish discolouration skin and mucous membranes) and breathing difficulties. Symptoms may not be evident until several hours after exposure. At about 15% concentration of blood methaemoglobin there is observable cyanosis of the lips, nose and earlobes. Symptoms may be absent although euphoria, flushed face and headache are commonly experienced. At 25-40%, cyanosis is marked but little disability occurs other than that produced on physical exertion. At 40-60%, symptoms include weakness, dizziness, lightheadedness, increasingly severe headache, ataxia, rapid shallow respiration, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, confusion, lethargy and stupor. Above 60% symptoms include dyspnea, respiratory depression, tachycardia or bradycardia, and convulsions. Levels exceeding 70% may be fatal. In those who survive haemotoxic effects, life-threatening acute renal failure, secondary to renal blockade, occurs. The acute lethal dose of naphthalene is estimated to be between 5 and 15 grams, although certain susceptible individuals have died after ingestion of a total dose of 2 grams. Hypersusceptibility, based on congenital deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity, has been identified and is more common amongst Asians, Arabs, Caucasians of Latin ancestry and American and African blacks; males in particular are sensitive.  

EYE

  Although the material is not thought to be an irritant, direct contact with the eye may produce transient discomfort characterized by tearing or conjunctival redness (as with windburn).  Exposure to naphthalene and its congeners has produced cataracts in animals and workers. In one study, eight of twenty-one workers, exposed to naphthalene for 5-years, showed opacities of the lens.  

SKIN

  Skin contact with the material may damage the health of the individual; systemic effects may result following absorption.  The material is not thought to be a skin irritant (as classified using animal models). Temporary discomfort, however, may result from prolonged dermal exposures. Good hygiene practice requires that exposure be kept to a minimum and that suitable gloves be used in an occupational setting.  Workers sensitized to naphthalene and related compounds show an inflammation of the skin with scaling and reddening. Some individuals show an allergic reaction. Generally, absorption through the skin does not cause acute systemic reactions except in new-born babies. Photosensitization, sunburn-like responses or blisters have been reported. Animal testing revealed naphthalene can cause disease changes in a range of organs.  

INHALED

  Inhalation may produce health damage*.  The material is not thought to produce respiratory irritation (as classified using animal models). Nevertheless inhalation of the material, especially for prolonged periods, may produce respiratory discomfort and occasionally, distress.  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.  Inhalation of naphthalene vapour has been associated with headache, loss of appetite and nausea. Other conditions associated with exposure to the vapour include optic neuritis, corneal injury and kidney damage. Animals exposed to aerosols of a refined commercial solvent mixture consisting primarily of mono-methylated naphthalenes, exhibited dyspnoea. When animals were exposed to this mixture for 27 daily one-hour exposures over a 35-day period, they showed dyspnoea, listlessness, prostration and marked salivation. Weight loss was evident in mice but not in other species. Pathological changes occurred in the lungs, liver and skin. Pulmonary changes consisted mainly of oedema, bronchopneumonia, emphysema, and thickening of the parabronchiolar alveolar septa. Haematology did not identify significant changes.  

CHRONIC HEALTH EFFECTS

  Principal routes of exposure are usually by skin contact/absorption and inhalation of generated dust.  In a two-year inhalation study, groups of mice were exposed at 0, 10 or 30 ppm naphthalene, 6 hours/day, 5 days/week for 103 weeks. Female mice showed an increase of pulmonary alveolar/bronchiolar adenomas at 30 ppm. There was no increase in the incidence of tumours in male mice. Naphthalene inhalation was associated with an increase in the incidence and severity of chronic inflammation, metaplasia of the olfactory epithelium, and hyperplasia of the respiratory epithelium in the nose, and chronic inflammation of the lungs of both sexes.