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International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Summaries & Evaluations

ETHYL ACRYLATE

VOL.: 39 (1986) (p. 81)

CAS No.: 140-88-5
Chem. Abstr. Name: 2-Propenoic acid, ethyl ester

5. Summary of Data Reported and Evaluation

5.1 Exposure data

Ethyl acrylate has been produced commercially since the early 1930s. Occupational exposure occurs in the manufacture of ethyl acrylate and in the manufacture and use of its emulsion polymers. It is also used as a synthetic flavouring substance and fragrance adjuvant in consumer products.

5.2 Experimental data

Ethyl acrylate was tested for carcinogenicity by gavage in mice and rats. Dose-related increases in the incidence of squamous-cell papillomas and carcinomas of the forestomach were observed in both species. Ethyl acrylate was tested by inhalation in the same strains of mice and rats; no treatment-related neoplastic lesion was observed. No treatment-related tumour was observed following skin application of ethyl acrylate for lifespan to male mice.

In one experiment in rats, oral administration of ethyl acrylate produced signs of embryotoxicity and foetotoxicity at mildly maternally toxic doses but did not increase foetal malformation. It was not embryotoxic, foetotoxic or teratogenic to rats at an airborne concentration that produced slight maternal toxicity.

Ethyl acrylate was not mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium in the presence or absence of an exogenous metabolic system, nor was it mutagenic to Drosophila melanogaster. It induced chromosomal aberrations in Chinese hamster lung cells in vitro and micronuclei in the bone marrow of mice treated in vivo.

5.3 Human data

No data were available to evaluate the reproductive effects or prenatal toxicity of ethyl acrylate to humans.

No case report or epidemiological study was available to evaluate the carcinogenicity of ethyl acrylate to humans.

5.4 Evaluation

There is sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of ethyl acrylate in experimental animals.

No data on humans were available.

For definition of the italicized terms, see Preamble Evaluation.

Previous evaluation: Vol. 19 (1979)

Subsequent evaluation: Vol. 71 (1999)

Synonyms

Last updated: 13 April 1999 






























    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Ethyl acrylate (ICSC)
       ETHYL ACRYLATE (JECFA Evaluation)
       Ethyl Acrylate  (IARC Summary & Evaluation, Volume 71, 1999)