The reported toxic effects of DBP to man have included irritation to the eyes, a few cases of skin sensitization, and a transient reaction (nausea, nervous system effects, eye irritation and kidney damage) from a single oral dose. In groups of workers exposed over a number of years to DBP and a mixture of other chemicals, the nervous system was adversely affected and there was some indication of reduced female fertility.
In laboratory animals, DBP was of low acute oral, dermal, inhalation and injection toxicity. Target organs included the nervous system, lungs, eyes, spleen, kidneys and testes. Repeated oral administration to rodents caused, in particular, severe degeneration of the testes and effects on the liver including the proliferation of peroxisomes (subcellular structures). Lesions in other organs have also been reported. Reproductive toxicity was seen (notably decreased fertility, and an increased incidence of foetal death, skeletal variation and malformation) in rodents subjected to repeated oral administration. Limited long-term feeding studies in rats gave no indication of carcinogenicity. Single or repeated oral administration to mice produced no evidence of chromosome damage in the bone marrow or peripheral blood cells, respectively. In mammalian cells in culture, DBP provided equivocal evidence of chromosome damage, and induced mutations. A range of genotoxicity screening tests in microorganisms (including the Ames test) have generally given negative results, although one bacterial study reported a weak mutagenic effect in the absence of a liver metabolic activation system.
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