Book/Book Chapter
Comparative toxicity of alcohol and gasoline fueled automobile exhaust fumes
Böhm, GM; Massad, E; Saldiva, PH; Gouveia, MA; Pasqualucci, CA; Nunes Cardoso, LM; Pires do Rio Caldeira, M; Fernandes Calheiros, D
Developments in Toxicology and Environmental Science
ISSN: 0165-2214
Elsevier Science Publishers
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Developments in the science and practice of toxicology: Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Toxicology
11 Developments in the Science and Practice of Toxicology
The toxicity ethanol (64175) fueled automobile exhaust was compared with that of gasoline exhaust. Groups of Wistar-rats were exposed to the exhaust gases diluted with air as engines were regulated to emit 2 or 3 percent carbon-monoxide. Mean survival time was determined for both situations and for a mixture of air and carbon-monoxide. Acute toxicity of ethanol, methanol (67561), acetaldehyde (75070), and formaldehyde (50000) inhalations were determined by exposing rats to concentrations from 6 to 500 milligrams per liter of each vapor. Clinical and morphological observations were made. Other rats were exposed 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, to exhaust gases of gasoline and alcohol fueled cars and to ethanol, methanol, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, and gasoline vapors. Biological effects were assessed in ongoing tests. Mean survival time for rats exposed to alcohol at 3 percent carbon-monoxide was 1 hour, 23 minutes. Survival for rats exposed to gasoline exhaust was 1 hour, 22 minutes; rats exposed to carbon-monoxide at 3 percent plus air survived a mean of 1 hour, 35 minutes. With carbon-monoxide at 2 percent, mean survival times were 3 hours and 44 minutes for alcohol, 3 hours and 30 minutes for gasoline, and 4 hours and 30 minutes for mixtures of air and carbon-monoxide. Acute toxicity of ethanol was greater than that of methanol but clinical and morphological observations were similar for both alcohols. Both aldehydes caused irritation of the mucosa with severe bronchospasms; vertigo and convulsions were caused by acetaldehyde. Survival time was lower for exposure to acetaldehyde. Chronic exposure tests in progress have indicated that rats exposed to ethanol suffer less than those exposed to gasoline and that acetaldehyde causes more severe changes in respiratory function than formaldehyde. The authors conclude that in acute exposure situations, alcohol fueled engines are less dangerous than gasoline cars.
Hayes, AW; Schnell, RC; Miya, TS
Developments in toxicology and environmental science, no. 11
Third International Congress on Toxicology
San Diego, CA
August 28-September 3, 1983