Toxicity Profile for Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (1993)

Abstract

Ethylene glycol monomethyl ether was not irritating to the skin of laboratory animals but was a severe eye irritant in rabbits. It has caused eye burns in humans. It was of low acute oral, inhalation and dermal toxicity in laboratory animals and has caused nervous system and respiratory disorders, kidney damage and death when ingested by individuals. In laboratory animals, repeated exposures by the oral, inhalation and dermal routes affected many tissues and, in particular, damaged the thymus, bone marrow, lungs, kidneys and testes. Reduced fertility, embryo- and foetotoxicity, and foetal malformations have been demonstrated in laboratory animals dosed orally, dermally or by inhalation. Rats treated by inhalation showed no conclusive evidence of chromosomal damage or dominant lethal mutations although a weak dominant lethal effect was demonstrated in rats treated orally. There were no signs of DNA damage in mammalian cells treated in culture. No mutagenicity was seen in an Ames bacterial test and a mutagenicity assay in fruit fly was inconclusive.