Toxicity Profile for Allyl isothiocyanate (1990)

Abstract

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) caused skin and eye irritation in man and was also a skin sensitizer. Intolerance and allergic reactions to mustard or radishes may be due to their AITC-content. AITC was of high acute toxicity to laboratory animals by the oral and dermal routes. Repeated oral administration to rodents affected various organs including the liver, thyroid, stomach, kidney, bladder and pancreas. There was some evidence of foetotoxicity when pregnant rats were injected with AITC and when pregnant mice were given mustard oil orally. Benign bladder tumours were seen in male rats given AITC by stomach tube for life, whilst in female rats and in mice of both sexes there was  no convincing evidence of carcinogenicity. Weak mutagenic activity has been reported in bacterial assays, including the Ames test, and there was some indication of genotoxicity in mammalian cells in culture. Dominant lethal mutations and chromosomal damage were not induced in rodents treated orally or by injection.