Odour Threshold Investigation 2012 - Bay of Plenty Regional Council

Part 3: H 2 S health effects
The primary focus of this report in on the odour threshold for H 2 S but for completeness and
context a brief summary of health effect information is given below. This has been extracted
from the World Health Organisation Concise International Chemical Assessment Document
53 14 .
Because hydrogen sulphide is a gas, inhalation is the major route of exposure to hydrogen
sulphide. Most human data are derived from acute poisoning case reports, occupational
exposures, and limited community studies. In confined spaces, human acute poisonings
continue to occur. Single inhalation exposures to high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide
cause health effects in many systems. Health effects that have been observed in humans
following exposure to hydrogen sulphide include death and respiratory, ocular, neurological,
cardiovascular, metabolic, and reproductive effects.
Respiratory, neurological, and ocular effects are the most sensitive end-points in humans
following inhalation exposures. There are no adequate data on carcinogenicity.
A summary of human health effects resulting from exposure to H 2 S is presented in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1
Human health effects at various hydrogen sulphide concentrations.
Exposure
(mg/m 3 )
Effect/observation
Reference
0.011 Odour threshold. Amoore & Hautala, 1983
2.8 Bronchial constriction in
asthmatic individuals.
Jappinen et al, 1990
5.0 Increased eye complaints. Vanhoorne et al, 1995
7 or 14 Increased blood lactate
concentration, decreased
skeletal muscle citrate
synthase activity, decreased
oxygen uptake.
5-29 Eye irritation. IPCS, 1981
28 Fatigue, loss of appetite,
headache, irritability, poor
memory, dizziness.
Bhambhani & Singh, 1991;
Bhambhani et al., 1996b,
1997
Ahlhorg, 1951
>140 Olfactory paralysis. Hirsch & Zavala, 1999
>560 Respiratory distress. Spolyar, 1951
≥700 Death. Beauchamp et al, 1984
14 WHO, 2003, Hydrogen Sulphide: Human Health Aspects. World Health Organisation, Geneva. Concise
International Chemical Assessment Document (CICAD) No.53.
Environmental Publication 2012/06–A review of odour properties of H 2 S odour threshold investigation 2012 9