INSECTICIDE FACTSHEET DIAZINON : TOXICOLOGY - wolf.sk

1 J O U R N A L O F P E S T I C I D E R E F O R M / SUMMER 2000 VOL. 20, NO. 2. I N S E C T I C I D E F A C T S H E E T. DIAZINON : TOXICOLOGY . DIAZINON is an organophosphate INSECTICIDE with agricultural, commercial, and household uses. Household uses predominate, with 75 million applications in the annually totalling over 5 million pounds. DIAZINON is toxic to the nervous system. Symptoms of acute DIAZINON poisoning include headache, nausea, dizziness, tearing, and sweating. Some symptoms, including blurred vision, headaches, and memory problems, can last for months or years. In laboratory tests, feeding DIAZINON to pregnant animals has caused a decrease in the endurance, coordination, and growth of their offspring. In addition, the sexual development of offspring of both sexes was delayed. DIAZINON exposure has been associated with an increased risk of brain cancer in children and the cancer non- Hodgkin's lymphoma in farmers. Infants are especially susceptible to DIAZINON .

2 In addition, 9 - 16 percent of people have a slow form of an important detoxification enzyme and thus are particularly susceptible. The Environmental Protection Agency estimated exposure to household residents following use of DIAZINON INSECTICIDE products and found that exposure following lawn care applications of liquid products and following indoor applications exceed the agency's levels of concern.. BY CAROLINE COX systems is called acetylcholine. After trans- Figure 1 mitting the nerve impulse, acetylcholine D iazinon (see Figure 1) is an or- DIAZINON and Diazoxon H S. OC2H5. is destroyed by an enzyme called acetyl- cholinesterase (AChE) in order to clear _=. - ganophosphate INSECTICIDE , chemically re- (CH3)2C N O-P the way for another transmission. Orga- _. _. _. OC2H5. lated to other common insecticides like nophosphates attach to AChE and pre- N. malathion and It was first vent it from destroying acetylcholine, - registered in the in 19562 and is CH3 causing overstimulation of the sold under a variety of brand names, DIAZINON Mammal and insect nervous systems (O,O-diethyl O-(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4- including DZN3 and Knox Out pyrimidinyl)phosphorothioate).

3 Are similar enough that effects of organo- phosphates are Use H O It is worth noting that not all of OC2H5. _=. - DIAZINON has agricultural, commercial, (CH3)2C N O-P DIAZINON 's toxicological effects stem from _. _. _. OC2H5. and household uses, but household uses its inhibition of AChE. DIAZINON and N. predominate. Estimated agricultural use other organophosphates inhibit numer- - CH3. is million pounds annually. Crops ous enzymes with molecular structures diazoxon using the most DIAZINON are almonds, ber- that are similar to AChE. For example, ries, pecans, and About 75 an enzyme involved in the metabolism of transformed into a molecule called million household applications are made the amino acid tryptophan is strongly in- diazoxon. (See Figure 1.) DIAZINON , and annually, 18 million indoors and 57 mil- hibited by DIAZINON and lion Home, lawn, and garden the more potent diazoxon,7 kill insects use totals million pounds per by interfering with nervous system func- Inert Ingredients tion, as do all members of the organo- Like most pesticide products, most Mode of Action phosphate chemical family.

4 Normally, commercial DIAZINON products contain Inside living things, DIAZINON is impulses are transmitted chemically from ingredients other than DIAZINON that are the end of one nerve cell to the begin- misleadingly labelled as inert. Public ning of another; one of the chemical information about the identity of these Caroline Cox is JPR's editor. transmitters used in animal nervous inerts is scanty. See TOXICOLOGY of Inert NORTHWEST COALITION FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES/NCAP. P. O. B O X 1 3 9 3, E U G E N E, O R E G O N 9 7 4 4 0 / ( 5 4 1 ) 3 4 4 - 5 0 4 4 15. J O U R N A L O F P E S T I C I D E R E F O R M / SUMMER 2000 VOL. 20, NO. 2. Ingredients, below, for information to the symptoms of any organophosphate muscle weakness, muscle twitching, pin- about inert ingredients that have been INSECTICIDE poisoning: headache, nausea, point pupils,1 lung congestion,13 cardiac publicly identified. dizziness, tearing, sweating, salivation,1 arrest,14 and drowsiness, agitation, anxiety,10 and in- Other symptoms observed in labora- Effects of Acute Exposure fluenza-like Symptoms of tory animals after acute exposure include Symptoms of acute (short-term) higher exposure include an abnormal abnormal walking, reduced activity,16 in- DIAZINON poisoning in people are similar heart rate (either too slow or too rapid),12 creased blood sugar levels,17 low blood TOXICOLOGY OF INERT INGREDIENTS.

5 Ingredients in commercial to its analogue Kathon CG. Cont. Dermat. 27:105-109. DIAZINON products that have been Polyvinyl Alcohol causes anemia in 3. Aslam, M., Fatima, N. and Rahman, Q. publicly identified1 include the fol- laboratory 1993. Cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of calcium silicates on human lymphocytes in lowing: Propane is flammable and a severe vitro. Mut. Res. 300(1):45-48. 1,2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one is a explosion 4. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Environmental Health Information Program. preservative that has caused allergic Silica (crystalline) has been classi- Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. skin fied as carcinogenic to humans by the 5. Cumene. , Mar. 28. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Calcium Silicate caused an in- International Agency for Research on Environmental Health Information Program. crease in the frequency of abnormal Cancer10 and as known to be a human Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. Diethylenetriamine.

6 , chromosomes in a laboratory study carcinogen by the National TOXICOLOGY Mar. 28. using human blood cells. The inci- It causes emphysema and ob- 6. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Environmental Health Information Program. dence of a second kind of genetic structive airway disease and has also Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. damage, called sister chromatid ex- caused genetic damage in exposed people Ethylbenzene. , Feb. 8. changes, was also and laboratory 7. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Cumene is a primary eye and Sodium sulfite. It may cause eye and Environmental Health Information Program. Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. skin irritant. It depresses the central skin irritation with vomiting and diar- Isobutane. , Feb. 8. nervous system. Symptoms of expo- rhea12 as well as skin Expo- 8. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Environmental Health Information Program. sure include burning sensations, head- sure to small amounts can cause severe Hazardous Substance Database.

7 2000. ache, dizziness, confusion, and allergic Polyvinyl alcohol. , Feb. 8. 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene damages the 9. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and Diethylenetriamine is a potent central nervous system and is irritating Environmental Health Information Program. Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. Pro- skin irritant and also causes allergic to eyes, skin, and the upper respiratory pane. , Feb. 8. skin sensitization. Other symptoms of 10. International Agency for Research on Can- cer. 1997. Silica. exposure include irritation of the cor- Xylenes are central nervous system Monographs/Vol68 nea and conjunctiva of the eye, asth- depressants,16 cause eye and skin irrita- 11. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. National TOXICOLOGY matic breathing, and nausea. In labo- tion, headaches, nausea, and confusion. Program. 2000. Ninth Report on Carcinogens. ratory tests, it caused an increase in In laboratory tests they have caused kid- 12. Acros Organics.

8 1997. Material safety data the incidence of a kind of genetic ney damage,17 a reduction in fetal growth, sheet: sodium sulfite. damage, sister chromatid an increase in fetal death, and an increase 13. itv? , Sept. 2. Lodi, A. et al. 1993. Contact allergy to so- Ethylbenzene can cause severe in the incidence of birth dium sulfite contained in an antifungal lung injury if inhaled. The offspring 1. Inert ingredients identified under the Freedom 14. preparation. Cont. Dermatit. 29:97. Anonymous. 1986. MSDS for sodium sulfite, of rats who breathed ethylbenzene of Information Act ( EPA. Office of Preven- anhydrous. during their pregnancy had an in- tion, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. 1999. Letter from Calvin Furlow to Marcy Trice, Aug. 15. SODIUM_SULFITE,_ANHYDROUS, Aug. 18. Aldrich Chemical Co, Inc. 1998. Material creased incidence of birth defects. In 5), and on material safety data sheets from safety data sheet: 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene. laboratory animals who breathed , , For detailed informa- and 16.

9 Milwaukee WI. National Library of Medicine. TOXICOLOGY and ethylbenzene, the incidence of several tion see NCAP's web page, Environmental Health Information Program. cancers 2. Damstra, , van Vloten, and van Ginkel. 1992. Allergic contact dermatitis from the Hazardous Substance Database. 2000. Xy- lenes. , Apr. 20. Isobutane depresses the central preservative 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one (1,2-BIT; 17. Dept. of Health and Human Services. nervous system. It is also extremely Proxel ): a case report, its prevalence in those Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease occupationally at risk and in the general derma- Registry. 1995. Toxicological profile for total flammable and can be an explosion tological population, and its relationship to allergy xylenes. Atlanta GA. NORTHWEST COALITION FOR ALTERNATIVES TO PESTICIDES/NCAP. 16 P. O. B O X 1 3 9 3, E U G E N E, O R E G O N 9 7 4 4 0 / ( 5 4 1 ) 3 4 4 - 5 0 4 4. J O U R N A L O F P E S T I C I D E R E F O R M / SUMMER 2000 VOL.

10 20, NO. 2. posure typically expose animals by feed- Figure 2 ing them the test chemical over a period Developmental Effects of DIAZINON : Endurance and Coordination of several months, for subchronic tests, or over a one to two year period, for 120 chronic tests. In subchronic and chronic tests with DIAZINON , the primary effect studied is inhibition of acetylcholinest- 100 erase (AChE), DIAZINON 's target enzyme. (maximum angle obtained before falling). Note: Lines Ability to stay on a tilting inclined plane above the bars In five studies ( a six-week study of show standard people; a one-year, a three-month, and a errors. 80 one-month study of dogs; and a one- month study of female rats) AChE inhi- bition occurred at strikingly low doses: 60 the animals were fed less than 50 micro- grams per kilogram of animal body weight per ,27,28. 40 A study of rats who were exposed by breathing DIAZINON -contaminated air mea- sured AChE inhibition at a similar level 20 of exposure (26 micrograms per kilogram ( g/kg) of body weight per day).