Registration Dossier
Use of this information is subject to copyright laws and may require the permission of the owner of the information, as described in the ECHA Legal Notice.
EC number: 200-663-8 | CAS number: 67-66-3
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data

Health surveillance data
Administrative data
- Endpoint:
- health surveillance data
- Type of information:
- experimental study
- Adequacy of study:
- other information
- Reliability:
- 2 (reliable with restrictions)
- Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:
- other: see 'Remark'
- Remarks:
- The study investigated potential adverse effects of long-term chloroform exposure by comparing workers frequently exposed to chloroform vapours to those not known to be exposed to occupational hazards. Both groups were examined clinically and for neurobehavioural performance. The group sizes were sufficient to guarantee a reliable statistical comparison of the exposure and control groups.
Data source
Reference
- Reference Type:
- publication
- Title:
- Studies on the toxicity and maximum allowable concentration of chloroform
- Author:
- Li LH, Jiang XZ, Liang YX, Chen ZQ, Zhou YF, Wang YL
- Year:
- 1 993
- Bibliographic source:
- Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 6, 179-186
Materials and methods
- Study type:
- health record from industry
- Endpoint addressed:
- repeated dose toxicity: inhalation
Test guideline
- Qualifier:
- no guideline available
- GLP compliance:
- no
Test material
- Reference substance name:
- Chloroform
- EC Number:
- 200-663-8
- EC Name:
- Chloroform
- Cas Number:
- 67-66-3
- Molecular formula:
- CHCl3
- IUPAC Name:
- trichloromethane
- Details on test material:
- not applicable
Constituent 1
Method
- Type of population:
- occupational
- Ethical approval:
- no
- Details on study design:
- In order to find possible exposure-effect relationship and the toxicity of chloroform after long-term exposure at low concentration, an extensive medical examination and neurobehavioral testing was conducted in 61 workers frequently exposed to chloroform at their workplaces and 83 control workers. The clinical examination was carried out by two clinical physicians. Serum enzymatic activities of asperate aminotransferase (ALT), gamaglutamyltransferase (r-GT) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) together with serum levels of prealbumin (PA) and transferrin (Tf) were analysed. Serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was chosen to reflect the kidney functions. WHO recommended Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery was used to test the neurobehavioral function following the principles listed in Operation guide (WHO 1986).
Results and discussion
- Results:
- The concentrations of chloroform vapour in the air of working places ranged from 4.27 to 141.25 mg/m3 with a geometric mean of 20.46 mg/m3. Workers in exposure group 1 had an average exposure level of 13.49 mg/m3, and workers in exposure group 2 of 29.51 mg/m3. All workers had experienced exposure to chloroform for 1 to 15 years. The common symptoms in exposed group 1 were dizziness, fatigue, somnolence, insomnia, increase of dreams, hypomnesia, anorexia and palpitation and their incidence was significantly increased compared with the control. The hepatomegaly rate had no signficant difference with that of control 1. The findings on liver and kidney functions are shown in Table 2. Exposure group 1 was different from Control 1 in transferrin, whereas exposure group 2 was different from Control 1 in prealbumin and transferrin. Table 3 shows the Profile of Mood State of the workers examined in the study. Scores of passive mood states categorised as depression, anger and fatigue were obviously higher in exposed workers than those of Control 2. The results of the neurobehavioural test are given in Table 4. It could be shown that occupational exposure to approximately 30 ppm chloroform negatively influenced the outcomes of some of the neurobehavioral tests.
Any other information on results incl. tables
Table 1: Characterisation of the subjects
Exposure group (n = 61) | Control 1 (n = 23) | Control 2 (n = 60) | |
Age (years, mean ± SD) | 36 ± 5 | 36.8 ± 3.9 | 36 ± 6.2 |
Male (Number, %) | 26 (42.6) | 9 (39.1) | 26 (43.3) |
Female (Number, %) | 35 (57.4) | 14 (60.9) | 34 (56.7) |
Smoking (Number, %) | 21 (34.4) | 8 (34.7) | 21 (35) |
Non-smoking (Number, %) | 40 (65.6) | 15 (65.3) | 39 (65) |
Table 2: Comparison of rates of abnormal serum enzymatic activities and BUN levels
Indicators | Control 1 (n = 23) | Exposure group 1 (n = 23) | ||
Number | % | Number | % | |
ALT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
ADA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
r-GT | 2 | 8.7 | 2 | 0.3 |
PA | 3 | 13.0 | 23 | 37.7* |
Tf | 10 | 43.5 | 47 | 77.0* |
BUN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* X-square test with Control 1, p < 0.01
Table 3: Scores of Profile of Moods State in Exposed workers and Control 2 workers
Mood | Control 2 (n = 60) | Exposure group (n = 60) |
mean ± SD | mean ± SD | |
Tension | 8.85 ± 3.34 | 8.73 ± 3.52 |
Depression | 9.17 ± 2.18 | 10.92 ± 4.55* |
Anger | 9.95 ± 3.68 | 14.07 ± 3.34** |
Vigor | 15.43 ± 4.15 | 17.12 ± 6.34 |
Fatigue | 7.52 ± 4.91 | 13.70 ± 4.59* |
Confusion | 6.12 ± 3.54 | 6.22 ± 2.65 |
Table 4: Results of neurobehavioural test
Testing | Control 2 (n = 60) | Exposure group 1 (n = 14) | Exposure group 2 (n = 46) |
mean ± SD | mean ± SD | mean ± SD | |
SVRT | 0.26 ± 0.03 | 0.27 ± 0.05 | 0.32 ± 0.14** |
SDS | 56.18 ± 8.49 | 56.85 ± 12.53 | 51.70 ± 12.11* |
SAD | 39.45 ± 4.47 | 41.07 ± 4.97 | 40.54 ± 4.47 |
DS | 15.78 ± 2.51 | 17.93 ± 2.92 | 15.63 ± 3.17** |
BVR | 8.92 ± 1.10 | 8.00 ± 1.80 | 7.07 ± 1.53** |
PtA | 245.98 ± 42.99 | 198.50 ± 37.88** | 195.00 ± 50.98** |
* X-square test with control 1, p < 0.05; ** X-squre test with control 1, p < 0.01; SVRT: simple virtual reaction time; SDS: symbol-digit substitution; SAD: Santa Ana manual dexterity; DS: digit span; BVR: Benten visual retention; PtA: pursuit aiming
Applicant's summary and conclusion
- Conclusions:
- Exposure to chloroform vapours at concentrations ranging from 5 to 140 mg/m3 at the working place adversely affected the health of workers in comparison with unexposed workers. It was demonstrated, that the negative health effect is concentration-dependent. It was concluded that a workplace concentration of 20 mg chloroform/m3 was sufficient to protect the health of workers.
- Executive summary:
In a workers health survey potential adverse health effects of occupational long-term exposure to chloroform vapours was investigated by comparing the serum enzymatic activities, serum blood urea nitrogen levels, and neurobehavioural performance of two groups of exposed workers to groups of unexposed control workers. Measurements by gas chromatography of vapour concentrations of chloroform at different working places had shown concentrations ranging from 5 to 140 mg/m3, and two groups of exposed workers were differentiated: one group experienced mean exposures of 13.5 mg/m3, whereas the other experience mean exposures of 29.5 mg/m3. It was demonstrated that the group of workers exposed to the higher chloroform levels was statistically significantly different from unexposed controls in many of the health endpoints, while the group of workers exposed to the lower chloroform concentration level was similar to unexposed controls in most of the health endpoints investigated in the study. From this it was concluded that an occupational threshold concentration of 20 mg chloroform/m3 was sufficient to protect the health of workers.
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
Reproduction or further distribution of this information may be subject to copyright protection. Use of the information without obtaining the permission from the owner(s) of the respective information might violate the rights of the owner.

Route: .live1