Potential Health Effects of Oxygenated Gasoline

By Melnick, Ronald L.

Book Id: WPLBN0000099702
Format Type: PDF eBook:
File Size: 0.7 MB
Reproduction Date: 2007

Title:	Potential Health Effects of Oxygenated Gasoline
Author:	Melnick, Ronald L.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Ecology, Natural resource issues, Environemtal protection
Collections:	Environmental Awareness Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States Environmental Protection Agency


Citation APA MLA Chicago L. Melnic, B. R. (n.d.). Potential Health Effects of Oxygenated Gasoline. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: Soon after the oxygenated gasoline program was introduced nationally in the winter of 1992-1993, anecdotal reports of acute health symptoms were received by health authorities in various areas of the country. Such health symptoms had not been anticipated but have subsequently focused attention on possible health risks associated with using oxygenated gasoline. Potential health effects of oxygenated gasoline were evaluated in two separate reports, one prepared by an interagency group of health scientists under the auspices of the Interagency Oxygenated Fuels Assessment and Steering Committee of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC, 1996) and the second by the Health Effects Institute (HEI) and a panel of experts (HEI, 1996). Both of these reports underwent extensive external peer review and were then reviewed by the National Research Council (NRC, 1996). This chapter summarizes the information on the health effects of oxygenated gasoline that was presented in the NSTC and HEI reports, with particular attention given to comments from the NRC review. The HEI report provides an extensive review on health effects caused by ingestion of moderate to large quantities of ethanol and concludes that these effects would not likely occur at the low ambient air levels associated with the use of ethanol in oxygenated fuels.

Table of Contents
CONTENTS SCOPE OF THE CHAPTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 HUMAN EXPOSURE (NONOCCUPATIONAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-5 HUMAN EXPOSURE (OCCUPATIONAL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-7 METABOLISM, DISPOSITION, AND TOXICOKINETICS OF MTBE IN ANIMALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8 METABOLISM AND TOXICOKINETICS IN HUMANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10 ACUTE HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10 Nature of the Available Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-10 Acute Health Effects at Higher Exposure Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-11 Acute Health Effects at Lower Exposure Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-13 Summary of Findings and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-14 NEUROTOXIC POTENTIAL OF MTBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-15 GENETIC TOXICITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-17 Oxygenated Fuel Additives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-17 Metabolites and Photoxidation Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18 Summary of Genetic Toxicity Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-18 REPRODUCTIVE AND DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-19 CARCINOGENICITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-20 Carcinogenicity of MTBE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-20 Carcinogenicity of MTBE Metabolites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-21 Relevance of the Rat Kidney Tumor Response for Human Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-21 Risk Assessment Relevance of Lymphoma/Leukemia Response in Female Rats and Testicular Tumors in Male Rats in the Oral-Gavage Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-24 Consistency in Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-25 Weight-of-Evidence for Human Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-26 Cancer Potency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-26 Limitations in Estimating Human Cancer Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-28 Overall Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-28 Comparing Cancer Risks of Conventional Gasoline and Oxygenated Gasoline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-29 CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-30 REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-33 SUPPLEMENTAL REFERENCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-38