Pyrocatechol

Health surveillance data

Administrative data

Endpoint:

health surveillance data

Type of information:

experimental study

Adequacy of study:

other information

Data source

Reference

Reference 1

Reference Type:

publication

Title:

Notice of intended changes - Catechol, kaolin, and arsenic.

Author:

Anonymous

Year:

1991

Bibliographic source:

Appl. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 6(12), 1042-1043.

Reference 2

Reference Type:

publication

Title:

No information

Author:

Hirosawa I., Asaeda G., Arizono H., Shimbo S.-I., Ikeda M.

Year:

1976

Bibliographic source:

International Archives of Occupational Environmental Health, 37(2),107-114.

Materials and methods

Study type:

health record from industry

Test material

Test material information

Constituent 1

Reference substance name:

Pyrocatechol

EC Number:

204-427-5

EC Name:

Pyrocatechol

Cas Number:

120-80-9

Molecular formula:

C6H6O2

IUPAC Name:

pyrocatechol

Details on test material:

no data

Method

Type of population:

occupational

Details on study design:

Japanese study on 13 workers exposed during 2 years to catechol (2 to 72 ppm) and phenol (55 to 260 ppm) vapours:
* The workers studied aged from 23 to 56 years and were engaged in shift work (7-9 h per day) for 2 years in a chemical factory where phenols were produced.
* Urine samples were collected to cover 24 starting at the begining of  the shift. Twenty four-h samples were also collected when the workers  were away from the exposure for a month. for the analysis of  catecholamines and their metabolites, the urine was mixed with  one-hundred volume of 35% hydrochloric acid and kept frozen for less than  two weeks until analysed. 
* Phenol and catechol were measured in Air and in Urine samples.  
Catecholamines and related metabolites were measured in Urine samples.  
Haemograms, other clinical examination, subjective symptoms (using the  Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire) were evaluated. And  Statistical analyses were performed using t test.
* Sex and aged-matched controls, 13 subjects, were selected from clerks in the business section of the same factory.

Results and discussion

Results:

* The workers were usually in the monitoring room with occasional walk to  and from various instruments including a centrifuge and a flaking  machine. Exposure intensity, thererfore, was such that the workers were  exposed to around 8 ng/m3 of catechol and 214 ng/m3 of phenol for 8 hours  in general with occasional exposure up to 320 ng/m3 of catechol and 1000  ng/m3 of phenol. The most intensive exposure was in the packing room,  where the exposure period was about 4h a day on the average.

* Physical response of workers:
- Many were complaining of sore throats, cough and sputa and eyes irritation, confirmed by clinical examination.
- Compared with the frequency of symptoms in control subjects, significant increases (p < 0.05) in positive response related to upper respiratory disorder were given (9 of 12).
- Higher incidence of cutaneous disorders than in control population.
- Although catechol is a well-known inhibitor of catecholamine o-methyl  transferase, the exposure at the level studied did not modify catecholamine metabolism, the daily excretion of catecholamines and their metabolites in urine remained within the normal range except for a slight decrease in perature during and right after the exposure also remained  normal. 
There no signs of hepatic and renal dysfunction. Peripheral haemograms were normal in all examinees except for one case of slight anaemia observed in a 56 year-old male worker.

* Excretion data are presented in Chapter 5.0. The calculated half-life of inhaled catechol is between 3 and 7 hours.