National Toxicology Program

Selected toxicity information from HSDB, one of the National Library of Medicine's databases. ¹

Names (NTP)

• Ethylene glycol monophenyl ether
• ETHANOL, 2-PHENOXY- (9CI)

Human Toxicity Excerpts

• SYMPTOMATOLOGY: 1. CENTRAL NERVOUS DEPRESSION ... 2. NO HYPOCALCEMIC TETANY OR METABOLIC ACIDOSIS ... 3. NAUSEA, VOMITING, & SOMETIMES DIARRHEA. 4. PROMINENT HEADACHE. LATER ABDOMINAL & LUMBAR PAIN & COSTOVERTEBRAL ANGLE TENDERNESS. 5. TRANSIENT POLYURIA & THEN OLIGURIA, PROGRESSING TO ANURIA. 6. ACUTE RENAL FAILURE ... 7. LESS CRITICAL PATHOLOGICAL LESIONS MAY APPEAR IN BRAIN, LUNGS, LIVER, MENINGES & HEART. /ETHYLENE GLYCOL/ [Gosselin, R.E., R.P. Smith, H.C. Hodge. Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products. 5th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1984., p. III-176]**QC REVIEWED**
  

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Non-Human Toxicity Excerpts

• IN UNDILUTED FORM, IT IS SEVERELY DAMAGING TO EYES OF RABBITS. WHEN DILUTED TO 5%, IT CAUSED ONLY MILD IRRITATION OF CONJUNCTIVAL MEMBRANES. RATS TOLERATED, WITHOUT APPARENT ADVERSE EFFECTS, 0NE 7 HR EXPOSURE TO VAPORS SATURATED @ 100 DEG C & COOLED TO ROOM TEMP. [Clayton, G. D. and F. E. Clayton (eds.). Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology: Volume 2A, 2B, 2C: Toxicology. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley Sons, 1981-1982., p. 3944]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• PHENOXYETHANOL SHOWED A TOXIC EFFECT ON FERTILIZATION WHEN THE CONCN IN THE INSEMINATION DILUTENT WAS 0.05%. THIS EFFECT WAS LIMITED TO THE SPERM. THE ANESTHETIC DID NOT SEEM TO AFFECT THE EGG. THEREFORE, CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED WHEN PHENOXYETHANOL IS USED TO IMMOBILIZE FISH DURING SPAWN TAKING. [BILLARD R; PROG FISH-CULT 43 (2): 72 (1981)]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• THE APPROX TIMES TO 50% MORTALITY OF JUVENILE RAINBOW TROUT (SALMO GAIRDNERI) EXPOSED TO 2-PHENOXYETHANOL AT 0.75, 0.50, & 0.25 ML/L WERE 10.7 MINUTES, 26.3 MINUTES, & 3.7 HR, RESPECTIVELY. THE AVERAGE IMMOBILIZATION TIMES AT THE ABOVE 3 CONCN WERE 2, 3, & 4 MINUTES, RESPECTIVELY, & RECOVERY TIMES WERE APPROX 14, 9, & 6 MINUTES, RESPECTIVELY, FOR FISH THAT SURVIVED. 2-PHENOXYETHANOL THUS APPEARS TO BE A SUITABLE ANESTHETIC FOR JUVENILE SALMONIDS BUT ONLY FOR LIMITED DURATIONS, ESPECIALLY AT HIGHER CONCN. [BARTON BA, HELFRICH H; PROG FISH CULT 43 (4): 223 (1981)]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• Pregnant New Zealand white rabbits were treated dermally with 300, 600, or 1000 mg/kg/day of undiluted 2-phenoxyethanol on days 6 thru 18 of gestation (25 animals per dose group). 2-Phenoxyethanol was toxic to the dams (maternal death) at the 600 and 1000 mg/kg doses. No adverse effects on pregnancy rate, resorptions, or fetal body measurements were observed at any dose. 2-Phenoxyethanol did not cause malformations in the fetuses as compared with controls. [Scortichini BH et al; Fundam Appl Toxicol 8: 272-79 (1987)]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• 2-PHENOXYETHANOL (0.1-0.5 ML/L) SEDATED OR ANESTHETIZED FISH WITHIN MINUTES WHEN THE ANIMALS WERE IMMERSED IN THE AGENT. THE FISH RECOVERED RAPIDLY FOLLOWING REMOVAL FROM THE ANESTHETIC SOLN. [JOLLY DW ET AL; VET REC 91 (18): 424 (1972)]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• Fish in the second highest concentration were immediately affected but began to respond to tap 12 hr. They did not school for the remainder of the test. Affected fish stopped schooling, became hypoactive on the tank bottom, then lost equilibrium prior to death. [Brooke, L.T., D.J. Call, D.T. Geiger and C.E. Northcott (eds.). Acute Toxicities of Organic Chemicals to Fathead Minnows (Pimephales Promelas). Superior, WI: Center for Lake Superior Environmental Studies Univ. of Wisconsin Superior, 1984., p. 295]**QC REVIEWED**
  

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Human Toxicity Values

• None found

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Non-Human Toxicity Values

• LD50 Rat oral 1.26 g/kg [Budavari, S. (ed.). The Merck Index - Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs and Biologicals. Rahway, NJ: Merck and Co., Inc., 1989., p. 1153]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• LD50 RAT ORAL 13.7 G/KG PLASTIAZAN-41 (ETHYLENE GLYCOL PHENYL ETHER) [LOSEVA IE; TR AZERB NAUCHNO-ISSLED INST GIG TR PROF ZABOL 9: 28 (1974)]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• LD50 MOUSE ORAL 16.5 G/KG PLASTIAZAN-41 (ETHYLENE GLYCOL PHENYL ETHER) [LOSEVA IE; TR AZERB NAUCHNO-ISSLED INST GIG TR PROF ZABOL 9: 28 (1974)]**QC REVIEWED**
  

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Absorption, Distribution and Excretion

• ... NOT READILY ABSORBED THROUGH THE SKIN IN ACUTELY TOXIC AMT. [Clayton, G. D. and F. E. Clayton (eds.). Patty's Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology: Volume 2A, 2B, 2C: Toxicology. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley Sons, 1981-1982., p. 3944]**QC REVIEWED**
  
• 2-PHENOXYETHANOL (0.1-0.5 ML/L) SEDATED OR ANESTHETIZED FISH WITHIN MINUTES WHEN THE ANIMALS WERE IMMERSED IN THE AGENT. WHEN ADMIN IN THIS WAY, THE ANESTHETIC WAS ABSORBED INTO THE BLOOD STREAM THROUGH THE GILL LAMELLAE. [JOLLY DW ET AL; VET REC 91 (18): 424 (1972)]**QC REVIEWED**
  

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Metabolism/Metabolites

• YIELDS PHENOL IN CONIOPHORA, IN PLEUROTUS, & IN POLYSTICTUS ... . /FROM TABLE/ [Goodwin, B.L. Handbook of Intermediary Metabolism of Aromatic Compounds. New York: Wiley, 1976., p. 10]**QC REVIEWED**
  

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TSCA Test Submissions

• Teratogenicity was evaluated in pregnant New Zealand White rabbits (25/group) dermally exposed to 2-phenoxyethanol at treatment levels of 0, 300, 600, and 1000 mg/kg/day on gestation days (GD) 6-18. Surviving animals were sacrificed on GD 28. Significant differences were observed between treated and control animals in the following: slight to moderate reddening of the skin at the application site (all treated animals), maternal mortality with dead animals exhibiting dark-colored urine in the bladder, darkened kidneys, evidence of anorexia (hairball in stomach), superficial erosions, ulcers, and/or hemorrhages in the gastric mucosa, decreased feed and fecal material in the intestines, severely decreased red blood cell counts and packed cell volume, increased reticulocytes (evidence of a regenerative hemolytic anemia and the animals were jaundiced (high- and mid-dose groups). No significant differences were observed between treated and control animals in the following (mid- and low-dose groups unless otherwise noted): maternal body weights or weight gain, liver weights, pregnancy rates, resorptions, preimplantation losses, fetal sex ratio or body measurements, and incidence of fetal malformations or alterations in gross morphology, internal organs or skeletal system. No statistical evaluations were performed on the five high-dose group rabbits which survived until GD 28.[Dow Chemical Corporation; 2-Phenoxyethanol: Dermal Teratology Study in Rabbits, Final Report. (1984), EPA Document No. 88-8500760, Fiche No. OTS0509695 ]**UNREVIEWED**
  

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Footnotes

¹ Source: the National Library of Medicine's Hazardous Substance Database, 10/28/2007.