Toxicity Profile for Ethyl acrylate (1996)

Abstract

Ethyl acrylate was an irritant to the skin of man, and was a severe eye and skin irritant in rabbits. Mucous membrane irritation has also been seen in several species. A marked sensitizing potential was apparent following repeated application to the skin of volunteers, and a number of cases of allergic dermatitis have been recorded. A single (protracted) period of covered dermal contact with dilute solutions has been found to sensitize a small number of individuals. Low to moderate oral, dermal and inhalation acute toxicity was seen in laboratory animals, a number of sites of toxic injury being found. On repeated administration to rats and mice, ethyl acrylate damaged the forestomach when given orally, whereas the nasal passages were the principal site of toxic injury in inhalation studies. In rats, maternally toxic oral doses were also toxic to the foetus. Inhalation studies in rats generated some suspicion of a teratogenic action, again at maternally toxic exposures. Long-term oral studies in mice and rats showed ethyl acrylate to be carcinogenic, producing forestomach tumours in both species. Long-term inhalation studies in rats and mice found no evidence of carcinogenic activity and a skin-painting study in mice also gave negative results. Injection studies in mice looking at chromosomal damage have given contradictory results. Ethyl acrylate produced both chromosomal damage and point mutations in mammalian cells in culture. In general, it was not mutagenic in the bacterial Ames test.