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Sulfur mustard is a poisonous chemical agent which exerts a local action on the eyes, skin and respiratory tissue with subsequent systemic action on the nervous, cardiac, and digestive and endocrine systems in man and laboratory animals causing lacrimation, malaise, anorexia, salivation, respiratory distress, vomiting, hyperexcitability, cardiac distress, and death. Sulfur mustard is a cell poison which causes disumption and impairment of a variety of cellular activities which are dependent upon a very specific integral relationship. These cytotoxic effects are manifested in widespread metabolic disturbances whose variable characteristics are observed in enzymatic deficiencies, vesicant action, abnormal mitotic activity and cell division, bone marrow disruption, disturbances in hematopoietic activity and systemic poisoning. Indeed, mustard gas readily combines with various components of the cell such as amino acids, amines and proteins. Sulfur mustard has been shown to be mainly a lung carcinogen in various test animal species; this effect is highly dependent of size of the dose and the route of exposure. In the human, there is evidence of cancers of the respiratory tract in men exposed to mustard gas. Mutagenicity of sulfur mustard, due to the strong alkylating activity, has been reported to occur in many different species of animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi. There is no strong evidence that sulfur mustard is a teratogen but much further research, with particular emphasis on maternal and fetal toxicity, is needed and recommended.

Lewisite (dichloro(2-chlorovinyl)arsine, Agent L) was investigated as part of the US Army Toxicological Program on Chemical Agents. The study was conducted during January - April, 1990. Dosing was performed during 3-12 January, 1990. Twenty male CD rats per dose group were given 1.5, 0.75 or 0.375 mg/kg Lewisite or vehicle control (one ml sesame seed oil) daily by gavage for 5 days. Positive control males were given one ml sesame seed oil by gavage on Day 1-4 and on Day 5 they were given an intraperitoneal injection of 100 mg/kg ethyl methanesulphonate, a known mutagen. Each male was mated to two virgin females (12 weeks of age) per counted and the uteri and contents were examined. Implantation sites were categorized as live/dead fetuses or early/late resorption. No significant differences inreproductive indices were seen between treatment groups and the control group with the exception of the positive control. Males were killed during Week 13 and necropsied. Sperm morphology/modify, testicular histopathologic evaluation and morphometric analysis of seminiferous tubule cross-sections revealed no differences among Lewisite-treated rats and rats given sesame seed oil. There was no indication of a dominant lethal mutagenic or other toxic effect on the male reproductive tract as a result of exposure to Lewisite, under the conditions of this study. The No Observable Adverse Effect Level was the highest dose used, 1.500 mg/kg., Prepared in collaboration with Pathology Associates, Inc., Jefferson, AR.

This report establishes a data base of physical, chemical, toxicological, and biological properties for: mustard gas; thiodiglycol; lewisite; lewisite oxide; methylphosphonic acid; isopropyl methylphosphonate; diisopropyl methylphosphonate; chlorate salts; wheat rust; inorganic arsenic compounds; mercury and its salts; dicyclopentadiene; aldrin; dieldrin; chlordane; and endrin, and provides a summary of pertinent information concerning: physical and chemical properties; analytical methods; mammalian toxicology; ecological considerations for wildlife, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, microorganisms, and plants; and existing standards.

This report is a data base of physical, chemical, toxicological, and biological properties of DDT. Sufficient data are presented to allow a preliminary assessment of the human health impacts and ecological impacts of DDT at sites within the United States where DDT is found. This report is intended to be used with chemical analysis data of DDT concentrations in water, sediments, soils, and biota at particular sites of interest to develop a qualitative assessment of potential hazard.

This report provides a data base and summary of physical/chemical properties, analytical methods, mammalian toxicology, environmental considerations, and standards, where available, for: auramine; benzanthrone; 1, 4-di-p-toluidinoanthraquinone; 1,4-diamino-2,3-dihydroanthraquinone; 1- methylaminoanthraquinone; Vat Yellow 4; and hexachloroethane; and identified information voids and recommends research needed to supply information for the adequate assessment of adverse health and environmental effects., See also AD-B030 349L.

This report provides a summary review and evaluation of phytotoxicological literature of 11 compounds associated with U.S. Army Ammunition Plants. These compounds are: sulfur dioxide, ammonia, acetic acid and acetic anhydride, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, methyl nitrate, nitromethane, tetranitromethane and the mononitrotoluenes. The estimated ambient concentrations for sulfur dioxide, acetic acid and nitrogen dioxide would not appear to pose a phytotoxic hazard. Because of lack of data, no conclusive statements can be made for the remaining compounds. Recommendations for further work on these latter compounds have been made; a protocol for ascertaining the phytotoxicity of airborne environmental contaminants has also been described in an appendix to the report. (Author)

A multidisciplinary research program is in progress to define the human health and environmental hazards associated with environmental pollutants from Army ammunition plants. Scientific investigations are identifying the physical chemical, biological , and toxicological properties of munitions-unique air and water pollutants. These efforts will assemble the scientific data-base from -which environmental standards can be established. The definition of long-term human health and environmental hazards requires lengthy toxicological studies to be conducted. There is an urgent need for environmental standards to guide The Second Symposium on Munitions -Environmental Standards Research was conducted on 2-4 May 1977. The major goals of this Symposium were to review the status and evaluate the adequacy of completed and continuing research efforts and to revise the temporary guidelines that had been recommended after the first data-base review in November 1975. Trinitrobenzene, Nitroglycerin, Trinitrobenzonitrile, Nitrotoluenes, Trinitrotoluene (TNT), Phossy water, White phosphorus, Pink water, 1,3,5-trinitrohexahy,dro-1,3,-triazine (RDX), Trinitrobenzaldehyde, 1,3,5,7-tetranitrooctahydro-I 3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX).

Drinking water criteria for diisopropyl methylphosphonate (DIMP) for the protection of human health were calculated by the basic formula proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The no-observable effect level (NOEL) was derived from the available toxicological data base for 90-day studies in the dog, rat, and mouse. It is recommended that the drinking water criterion for DIMP be set at 26.3 mg/L, based on an uncertainty factor for 100 and an extrapolation of the body weight of the dog being the most sensitive of the three animals evaluated. Keywords: Diisopropyl Methylphosphonate pollutant, Toxicity, Drinking water criteria.

Elemental white phosphorus is highly toxic to both experimental animals and man. Ingestion of even small amounts may produce severe gastrointestinal irritation, bloody diarrhea, liver damage, skin eruptions, oliquria, circulatory collapse, coma, convulsions and death. The fatal dose for man is about 1-1.4 mg/kg. No LD50 values have been determined. Acute effect differ considerably from chronic effects. Chronic poisoning (from ingestion or inhalation) is characterized by such effects on the osseous system as bony necrosis ('phossy jaw'), spontaneous fractures, as well as by anemia and weight loss. White phosphorus appears to be noncarcinogenic when fed to experimental animals. White phosphorus is also highly toxic to aquatic animals. Crustaceans and many molluscs are more tolerant, but still succumb to phosphorus concentrations of 1 ppm or less., See also AD777970 and AD777981

Acutely toxic doses of TNT to mammals vary with species and route of administration, starting somewhere below 200 mg/kg. No LD50 values have been determined. Chronic doses in the range of 5-100 mg/kg cause anemia, hemolysis and associated disorders in mammals. In man, hematologic changes are followed by such manifestations as toxic hepatitis, effects on the central nervous system, and, on extremely prolonged exposure, cataract formation. The order of magnitude for DNT toxicity, is about that for TNT. No evidence has been found for mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic effects, or for sensitization, by TNT or DNT. The main TNT metabolite identified in biochemical studies is 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene. DNT appears to be somewhat less toxic to fish than TNT and 'relatively nontoxic' to microorganisms. (Modified author abstract)

Nitroglycerin appears to be relatively non-toxic in acute, subacute and chronic studies; it is metabolized rapidly to non-toxic compounds in animals and man. This information would indicate that there should be no real hazard in munitions wastes from nitroglycerin, its metabolites or possible breakdown products. Attention however is drawn to the possible carcinogenic hazard of these aliphatic nitrates through N-nitrosamine formation in the organism or environment and to the potentiality of interaction of nitroglycerin and its analogs with other chemicals in the wastes. (Modified author abstract)