Toxicity Profiles
Condensed Toxicity Summary for BENZO[B]FLUORANTHENE
NOTE: Although the toxicity values presented in these toxicity profiles were correct at the time they were produced, these values are subject to change. Users should always refer to the Toxicity Value Database for the current toxicity values.
May 1994
Prepared by: Rosmarie A. Faust, Ph.D., Chemical Hazard Evaluation and Communication Group, Biomedical and Environmental Information Analysis Section, Health and Safety Research Division, *, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Prepared for OAK RIDGE RESERVATION ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION PROGRAM.
*Managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-84OR21400.
Benzo[b]fluoranthene, a crystalline solid with a chemical formula of C20H12 and a molecular weight of 252.32 (Lide, 1991), is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with one five-membered ring and four six-membered rings. There is no commercial production or known use of this compound (IARC, 1983). Benzo[b]fluoranthene is found in fossil fuels and occurs ubiquitously in products of incomplete combustion. It has been detected in mainstream cigarette smoke; urban air; gasoline engine exhaust; emissions from burning coal and from oil-fired heating; broiled and smoked food; oils and margarine (IARC, 1983); and in soils, groundwater, and surface waters at hazardous waste sites (ATSDR, 1990).
No absorption data were available for benzo[b]fluoranthene; however, by analogy to structurally-related PAHs, primarily benzo[a]pyrene, it would be expected to be absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and skin (EPA, 1991). Major metabolites of benzo[b]fluoranthene formed in vitro in rat liver include dihydrodiols and monohydroxy derivatives (Amin et al., 1982) and monohydroxy derivatives in mouse epidermis (Geddie et al., 1987).
No data were found concerning the acute, subchronic, chronic, developmental, or reproductive toxicity of benzo[b]fluoranthene. No data were available for the derivation of an oral reference dose (RfD) or inhalation reference concentration (RfC) (EPA, 1994).
No long-term oral or inhalation bioassays were available to assess the carcinogenicity of benzo[b]fluoranthene. Benzo[b]fluoranthene was tested for carcinogenicity in dermal application, lung implantation, subcutaneous (s.c.) injection, and intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection studies. Dermal applications of 0.01-0.5% solutions of benzo[b]fluoranthene for life produced a high incidence of skin papillomas and carcinomas in mice (Wynder and Hoffmann, 1959). In initiation-promotion assays, the compound was active as an initiator of skin carcinogenesis in mice (LaVoie et al., 1982; Amin et al., 1985). Sarcomas and carcinomas of the lungs and thorax were seen in rats receiving single lung implants of 0.1-1 mg benzo[b]fluoranthene (Deutsch-Wenzel et al., 1983). Newborn mice receiving 0.5 umol benzo[b]fluoranthene via i.p. injection developed liver and lung tumors (LaVoie et al., 1987), and mice administered three s.c. injections of 0.6 mg benzo[b]fluoranthene developed injection site sarcomas (IARC, 1993).
Based on no human data and sufficient evidence for carcinogenicity in animals, EPA has assigned
a weight-of-evidence classification of B2, probable human carcinogen, to benzo[b]fluoranthene
(EPA, 1994).
Retrieve Toxicity Profiles
Formal Version
Last Updated 8/29/97