CARBON DISULFIDE: HAZARD CHARACTERIZATION AND EXPOSURE-RESPONSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Carbon disulfide has been assessed as a Priority Substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Based on the results of epidemiological studies of workers exposed to carbon disulfide and supporting data from experiments conducted on animals, the nervous system appears to be the critical target for carbon disulfide-induced toxicity, manifested most often as reduced conduction velocity in the peripheral nerves and impaired performance in psychomotor testing. Other effects for which there is considerable weight of evidence in humans exposed to carbon disulfide include alterations in serum lipids and blood pressure that are associated with increased risk of heart disease, damage to the blood vessels of the retina and (with higher exposures) increased mortality from heart disease. A tolerable concentration of 100 μg/m3 has been derived, based upon the benchmark concentration associated with a 5% adverse response for the most sensitive response variable (i.e., peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity at 20 mg/m3) in an epidemiological study of an occupationally exposed population.