NIOSH Testimony on Methyl Isocyanate by R. A. Lemen, December 12, 1984.

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  This testimony contains information from NIOSH regarding the toxicity of methyl-isocyanate (624839) (MIC). MIC is used largely as an intermediate in the manufacture of pesticides. In the Industrial Organic Chemicals Industry category (SIC-286) in which the manufacture of isocyanates falls, the incidence of injuries and illnesses has in general been lower than for other chemical and allied products' groups and for all manufacturing. MIC has an median lethal concentration (LC50) of 5 parts per million (ppm) in rats exposed to the vapor for 4 hours; for a 2 hour exposure the LC50 was 21ppm. MIC has the ability to irritate, inflame, and corrode tissues including the eyes and respiratory tract, particularly lung tissue. Humans, if exposed to 2ppm for 1 to 5 minutes, would experience tearing and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat; at 20ppm MIC exposure would cause shortness of breath. Uncomplicated death due to MIC exposure at concentrations higher than 20ppm is characterized by congestive heart failure. The majority of deaths would occur within 1 month of exposure. NIOSH is planning a study of Union Carbide records to determine if the subset of workers exposed to MIC can be identified and then tracked. The only NIOSH criteria document currently available related to MIC addressed the diisocyanates. Because of the respiratory sensitization and irritation effects of the diisocyanates, NIOSH recommended exposure limits similar to the OSHA permissible exposure limit of 0.02ppm for MIC. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Content Notes:
  in NTRL, no PDF
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Cardiovascular Diseases Cardiovascular System Isocyanates Lung Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Author; NIOSH-Testimony; Lemen-R-A; Chemical-manufacturing-industry; Chemical-industry-workers; Isocyanates; Agricultural-chemicals; Lung-irritants; Respiratory-system-disorders; Cardiovascular-system-disorders
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Testimony
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00196242
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91152561
• Citation:
  NIOSH 1984 Dec:8 pages
• CAS Registry Number:
  Methyl isocyanate (CAS RN 624-83-9)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1985
• NORA Priority Area:
  Disease and Injury: Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  286 - Industrial Organic Chemicals - (SIC)
• Source Full Name:
  NIOSH, 8 pages
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/242976/cdc_242976_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]