Ethyl acrylate [factsheet]

ETHYL ACRYLATE

Please Note: The main source of information for this fact sheet is EPA's Health and Environmental Effects Profile for Ethyl Acrylate. Other secondary sources include the Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB), a database of summaries of peer-reviewed literature, and the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS), a database of toxic effects that are not peer reviewed.

Environmental/Occupational Exposure

* Human exposure will be primarily occupational via inhalation and dermal contact. (1)

* Ethyl acrylate may be released into the environment in fugitive and stack emissions or in wastewater during its production and use. (1)

Assessing Personal Exposure

* No information was located regarding the measurement of personal exposure to ethyl acrylate.

Health Hazard Information

Acute Effects:

* Acute (short-term) exposure of workers to ethyl acrylate vapors has been reported to cause drowsiness, lethargy, headache, nausea, convulsions, and respiratory and gastro-intestinal irritation. (1)

* Lethargy, conjunctivitis, diarrhea, weight loss, and severe mucosal irritation have been observed in rodents acutely exposed by inhalation. (2)

* Acute oral exposure has been reported to cause thickened forestomach mucosa, forestomach inflammation and lesions, and abdominal adhesions in rodents. (2)

* Ethyl acrylate is a potent skin irritant in rabbits. (2)

* Acute animal tests, such as the LC₅₀ and LD₅₀ tests in rats, mice, and rabbits, have demonstrated ethyl acrylate to have moderate acute toxicity from inhalation and ingestion and high acute toxicity from dermal exposure. (3)

Chronic Effects (Noncancer):

* No information is available on the chronic (long-term) health effects of ethyl acrylate in humans.

* Nonneoplastic lesions and inflammation of the nasal mucosa and depressed body weight gain have been observed in rats and mice chronically exposed by inhalation. (2)

* In one study, the swelling of renal tubules and the liver, minor lesions on the liver and lung, and increased kidney weight were reported in rats chronically exposed by inhalation. (2)

* In rodents chronically exposed via gavage (experimentally placing the chemical in the stomach), an increased incidence of forestomach lesions and inflammation and ulcerations have been observed. Depressed body weight gain has been reported in rats and dogs chronically exposed in their drinking water. (2)

* EPA has not established an RfC or RfD for ethyl acrylate. (4)

Reproductive/Developmental Effects:

* No information is available on the reproductive or developmental effects of ethyl acrylate in humans.

* Decreased body weight, but no major malformations, were observed in the offspring of rats exposed to ethyl acrylate by inhalation. (2)

Cancer Risk:

* A causal relationship for an increased incidence of colorectal cancer among workers occupationally exposed to ethyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate has been suggested, but there is conflicting evidence regarding this relationship. Other epidemiological studies show no evidence of carcinogenicity. (2)

* Increased incidences of squamous cell papillomas and carcinomas of the forestomach have been observed in rats and mice exposed via gavage. (2,5)

* No dose-related statistically significant increases in tumor incidence have been observed in other studies of rodents exposed to ethyl acrylate in drinking water, by inhalation, and dermally. (2,5)

* EPA has classified ethyl acrylate as a Group B2, probable human carcinogen. (2)

* EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, for a hazard ranking under Section 112(g) of the Clean Air Act Amendments, has ranked ethyl acrylate in the nonthreshold category. The 1/ED₁₀ value is 0.22 per (mg/kg)/d and this would place it in the low category under Superfund's ranking for carcinogenic hazard. (6)

Physical Properties

* The chemical formula for ethyl acrylate is C₅H₈O₂, and its molecular weight is 100.11 g/mol. (7)

* Ethyl acrylate occurs as a colorless flammable liquid that is slightly soluble in water. (1,2,5,7)

* Ethyl acrylate has an acrid penetrating odor, with an odor threshold of 0.0012 ppm. (7,8)

* The vapor pressure for ethyl acrylate is 40 mm Hg at 26 EC, and its log octanol/water partition coefficient (log K_ow) is 1.33. (2,5)

Uses

* Ethyl acrylate is used in the manufacture of water-based latex paints and adhesives, textile and paper coatings, leather finish resins, and in the production of acrylic fibers. (2,7)

Health Data from Inhalation Exposure

Concentration (mg/m³)	Health numbers^a	Regulatory, advisory numbers^b	Reference
100,000.0
_ _ _ _ 10,000.0	* LC₅₀ (mice) (16,200 mg/m³)		3
_ _ _ _ 1,000.0	* LC₅₀ (rats) (8,926 mg/m³)		3
_ _ _ _ 100.0		* MSHA standard (100 mg/m³)	3
_ _ _ _ 10.0		* ACGIH TLV and OSHA PEL (20 mg/m³)	3
_ _ _ _ 1.0

ACGIH TLVCAmerican Conference of Governmental and Industrial Hygienists' threshold limit value expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effects.

LC₅₀ (Lethal Concentration₅₀)CA calculated concentration of a chemical in air to which exposure for a specific length of time is expected to cause death in 50% of a defined experimental animal population.

MSHACMine Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA PELCOccupational Safety and Health Administration's permissible exposure limit expressed as a time-weighted average; the concentration of a substance to which most workers can be exposed without adverse effect averaged over a normal 8-h workday or a 40-h workweek.

^a Health numbers are toxicological numbers from animal testing or risk assessment values developed by EPA.

^b Regulatory numbers are values that have been incorporated in Government regulations, while advisory numbers are nonregulatory values provided by the Government or other groups as advice.

References

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB, online database). National Toxicology Information Program, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. 1993.

2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Health and Environmental Effects Profile for Ethyl Acrylate. ECAO-CIN-P228. Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH. 1987.

3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS, online database). National Toxicology Information Program, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD. 1993.

4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) on Ethyl Acrylate. Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office, Office of Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, Cincinnati, OH. 1993.

5. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans: Some Chemicals Used in Plastics and Elastomers. Volume 39. World Health Organization, Lyon. 1986.

6. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Technical Background Document to Support Rulemaking Pursuant to the Clean Air ActCSection 112(g). Ranking of Pollutants with Respect to Hazard to Human Health. EPAB450/3-92-010. Emissions Standards Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Research Triangle Park, NC. 1994.

7. The Merck Index. An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals. 11th ed. Ed. S. Budavari. Merck and Co. Inc., Rahway, NJ. 1989.

8. J.E. Amoore and E. Hautala. Odor as an aid to chemical safety: Odor thresholds compared with threshold limit values and volatilities for 214 industrial chemicals in air and water dilution. Journal of Applied Toxicology, 3(6):272-290. 1983.