Toxicity Profiles
Condensed Toxicity Summary for BENZO[G,H,I]PERYLENE
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[g,h,i]perylene, also known as 1,12-benzoperylene, is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) with six aromatic rings. There is no known commercial production or use of benzo[g,h,i]perylene. It occurs naturally in crude oils and is present ubiquitously in products of incomplete combustion and in coal tar (EPA, 1987).
No absorption data were available for benzo[g,h,i]perylene; however, by analogy to other PAHs, primarily benzo[a]pyrene, it would be expected to be absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and skin (EPA, 1991).
No human or animal data were available to evaluate the toxicity of benzo[g,h,i]perylene. Because of the lack of data, EPA has not derived an oral reference dose (RfD) or inhalation reference concentration (RfC) (EPA, 1992).
No oral or inhalation bioassays were available to assess the carcinogenicity of benzo[g,h,i]perylene. Negative results were reported in dermal application studies (Hoffmann and Wynder, 1966; Van Duuren and Goldschmidt, 1976) and in initiation-promotion assays for skin tumorigenesis in mice (Hoffmann and Wynder, 1966; Van Duuren et al., 1970). However, when benzo[g,h,i]perylene was administered simultaneously with benzo[a]pyrene to the skin of mice, an increased incidence of skin tumors was observed compared to the tumor incidence in mice treated with benzo[a]pyrene alone, indicating possible cocarcinogenic activity of benzo[g,h,i]perylene (Van Duuren et al., 1973). Although a few pulmonary tumors were observed in Osborne-Mendel rats when benzo[g,h,i]perylene was administered as single lung implants of >=83 mg (Deutsch-Wenzel et al., 1983), the tumors may have been caused by impurities in the test compound (IARC, 1983). In subcutaneous injection studies, benzo[g,h,i]perylene did not produce injection site tumors in mice (Muller, 1968).
Based on no human data and inadequate data with experimental animals, the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified benzo[g,h,i]perylene in weight-of-evidence
Group D, not classifiable as to human carcinogenicity (EPA, 1992).
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