Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4
General Animal and
Aquatic Toxicity
JOHN J. CLARY
Bio Risk, Midland, MI, USA
4.1
INTRODUCTION
The toxicity of methanol has been generally well studied in animals. In
addition to the general toxicity in animals, separate chapters in this topic
address potential reproductive/developmental effects (Chapter 5) and
cancer studies (Chapter 8). Animal tests, in general, have been done
over the years to obtain predictive information on health effects of
chemicals in humans. Investigation of methanol toxicity in animals is
somewhat difficult to correlate with human response because of differ-
ences in metabolism between animals and human. Methanol is metab-
olized through the same pathways in humans and animals, but by
different enzymes, and different rate of metabolites formation resulting
in the differences in methanol-induced toxicity between humans and
animals.
There is abundant data on the potential acute health effects of
methanol in humans. Most information on the human health effects
of methanol is derived from clinical observations following accidental
or intentional ingestion.
Because of metabolism difference between animal and humans as
well as the nature of exposure in humans, additional chapters on
metabolism (Chapter 7) and human toxicity (Chapter 3) are presented
