Toxicity Profile for Sodium N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate (1991)

Abstract

Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate was of low to moderate acute oral and injection toxicity in laboratory animals, with effects generally involving the nervous system and liver. On repeated oral administration, the main targets of toxicity were the nervous system and reproductive organs in chickens, the blood and kidney in rats, the blood in dogs, and nerve fibre degeneration in rabbits; no specific site of action was identified in mice. Comprehensive long-term oral studies in rats and mice produced no convincing evidence of carcinogenicity. Foetal death occurred when pregnant rabbits were treated by multiple intravenous injections or mice were given multiple subcutaneous injections. Mutagenic activity has been seen in Ames bacterial tests and in mammalian cells in culture.