Handbook of Solvents - George Wypych - ChemTech - Ventech!

1186 J Devillers, A Chezeau, A Cicolella, E Thybaud
(7.5 μl/g). 60 In general, male pupae are much more affected by ethylene glycol monomethyl
ether than female pupae. However, teratogenicity appears strain dependent. Higher detoxification
occurs with increased alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity. Ethylene glycol
monomethyl ether is much more toxic than its oxidation product, methoxyacetic acid, at the
level of adult eclosion. Teratogenic effects were observed in an ADH-negative strain in
spite of lacking ADH activity suggesting that apparently, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether
is a teratogenic compound by itself against Drosophila melanogaster. 61 Last, it is interesting
to note that recently, Eisses has shown 62 that administration of ethylene glycol monomethyl
ether to larvae of fruit fly, containing the highly active alcohol dehydrogenase variant
ADH-71k, exposed the mitotic germ cells and the mitotic somatic cells of the imaginal discs
simultaneously to the mutagen methoxyacetaldehyde and the teratogen methoxyacetic acid,
respectively. Consequently, the chances for specific gene mutations, though non-adaptive,
were likely increased by a feedback mechanism.
17.3.5 CONCLUSION
Despite their widespread use, glycol ethers and their acetates have received little attention
as potential environmental contaminants. Based on their physico-chemical properties, they
would tend to remain in the aquatic ecosystems where their bioconcentration, biomagnification
and sorption onto sediments will appear negligible. Volatilization from water and hydrolysis
or photolysis in the aquatic ecosystems are generally of minimal importance.
Glycol ethers are also poorly sorbed to soil and their rapid removal in the atmosphere is expected.
While glycol ethers are biodegradable under aerobic conditions, these chemicals
may persist for many years under anaerobic conditions.
Based on the available acute ecotoxicity data, glycol ethers and their acetates can be
considered as practically non-toxic. However, there is a lack of information on their
long-term effects on the biota. This is particularly annoying because the developmental toxicity
of some of them has been clearly identified against mammals. Consequently, there is a
need for studies dealing with the potential long-term effects of these chemicals against organisms
occupying different trophic levels in the environment in order to see whether or not
the classical methodological frameworks used for assessing the environmental risk of
xenobiotics remain acceptable for this class of chemicals.
17.3.6 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was supported by the French Ministry of the Environment as part of the
PNETOX program (1998).
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