Effect of chlorine and monochloramine in drinking water on the developing rat fetus

Abstract

Chlorine dioxide (C102) or monochloramine (NH2C1) may be considered as an alternative to chlorine (HOCl) as a disinfectant in public water supplies, since chlorination produces trihalomethanes. This study was conducted to determine the effect of chlorine and monochloramine on rat fetuses. Female rats were administered 0, 1, 10 or 100 mg 1-I NHzCl or HOCl daily in the drinking water for 23months prior to and throughout gestation. Rats were sacrificed on Day 20 of gestation and fetuses were preserved for soft-tissue and skeletal examination. No significant increase in fetal resorptions was found in any treated group. A slight increase in skeletal variants (such as incompletely ossified or missing sternebrae, or rudimentary ribs) was seen in 10 and 100 mg 1-' HOCl groups. Soft-tissue defects, mainly improper orientation of the heart or adrenal agenesis, were observed in the 100 mg 1-' HOCl group. The percentage of total defects (skeletal and soft-tissue) was increased significantly over control in the 100 mg 1-' HOCl group; however, monochloramine did not produce any significant changes in rat fetuses at any dose level.

Carcinoma of the ear: a case report of a possible association with chlorinated disinfectants

“…However, it has to be clear that there is no epidemiological data suggestive of a carcinogenic effect of these compounds. Many reports showed that chlorinated disinfectants can be very irritant to the skin and mucous membranes (Dakin, 1915;Brennan and Leaper, 1985), others showed a mutagenic effect on animal tissues (Kawachi et al, 1980) and teratogenesis (Abdel-Rahman et al, 1982). Nevertheless, one has to recall that the above studies have all employed high concentrations of these compounds far beyond the safety limits allowed for human usage, and for relatively short periods of time.…”

“…Similar tests using human embryo fibroblasts showed aberration in sister chromatid exchange tests. Interaction of halogenated compounds and nucleic acids (Olivieri et al, 1978) and teratogenesis in the developing rat foetus (Abdel-Rahman et al, 1982) have been reported. Short-term and long-term bioassay studies on the carcinogenicity of sodium hypochlorite in F344 rats (Hasegawa et al, 1986) demonstrated an increasing incidence in both benign and malignant neoplasia.…”

Exposure to Chloramine and Chloroform in Tap Water and Adverse Perinatal Outcomes in Shanghai

“…A study showed that monochloramine exposure did not harm female fertility, reproductive organs, pup weight or litter size in rats [ 31 ]. Additionally, neither teratogenic nor embryotoxic effects of monochloramine have been found in animal studies [ 32 ]. To our knowledge, there have been no recent studies on the health risks of chloramine.…”

Antimicrobial efficacy, mode of action and in vivo use of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) for prevention or therapeutic support of infections

“…Testing the oxidation potential and mutagenicity of NaOCl has a long history, due its use as the main disinfectant for drinking water [ 119 ], [ 120 ], [ 121 ]. As early as 1997, Soffritti et al reported the results of long-term carcinogenicity bioassays (104 weeks) on chlorine (in the form of sodium hypochlorite and monochloramine in increasing doses from 0, 70, 140, to 275 ppm), administered in drinking water to rats and mice.…”