Gunnar Johanson, I. Michel, Dan Norbäck
1989
Citations
0
Influential Citations
18
Citations
Journal
Archives of toxicology. Supplement. = Archiv fur Toxikologie. Supplement
Abstract
Glycol ethers are frequently used in industry for painting, printing, and cleaning purposes. The methyl and ethyl ethers of ethylene glycol (EGME and EGEE), as well as their acetate esters EGMAc and EGEAc, are teratogenic and embryotoxic and cause testicular damage in laboratory animals. The adverse effects have been attributed to the metabolites methoxyacetic (MAA) and ethoxyacetic acid (EAA). Alkoxyacetic acids appear to be suitable biological indices of exposure as these acids are not normally present in human urine. The influence of workload and of skin uptake on the internal dose are accounted for by urine monitoring. In addition, the concentration or excretion rate of acid metabolite in urine may correlate with target organ dose of active agent, and thus with the health hazard better than the ambient air level of glycol ether (Johanson 1988).