revised final - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ...

MERCURY 155
2. HEALTH EFFECTS
is limited because the assay was not intended as a carcinogenicity assay, and too few animals were used
(20 per dose) to adequately assess the carcinogenicity of the phenylmercuric acetate.
No tumors or precancerous lesions were reported in rats administered 0.04–66.0 mg Hg/kg/day as phenyl­
mercuric acetate in the diet for 2 years (Fitzhugh et al. 1950). As discussed above for mercuric acetate, no
conclusions can be drawn from this study because of its limitations.
In a 2-year oral chronic-duration feeding study, no tumors or precancerous lesions were noted in rats
administered mercuric acetate in the diet at doses of 0.2–66 mg Hg/kg/day (Fitzhugh et al. 1950); no
conclusions could be derived on the carcinogenicity of mercuric acetate. The study was limited because the
group sizes were small (10–12 rats per group); survival data were not reported; a considerable but
unspecified number of rats reportedly died from pneumonia, which reduced the sensitivity of the study to
detect a carcinogenic response; and only limited histopathological analyses were performed.
The CELs from these studies are recorded in Table 2-3 and plotted in Figure 2-3.
2.2.3 Dermal Exposure
Occupational exposure to both inorganic and organic mercury compounds may result in dermal as well as
inhalation exposure to these chemicals. The results reported in Section 2.2.1 regarding the effects
associated with occupational exposure to mercury-containing chemicals will not be repeated here. The
studies discussed below concern reports in which dermal exposure was expected to be the primary route of
exposure.
2.2.3.1 Death
Inorganic Mercury. A case study reported that a 27-year-old woman died 4 days after inserting an 8.75-g
tablet of mercuric chloride (93 mg Hg/kg assuming 70-kg weight) into her vagina (Millar 1916). Another
case study described the death of a man who had been receiving treatment for a wound with daily
applications for approximately 2 months of a Chinese medicine containing mercurous chloride (Kang-Yum
and Oransky 1992). The patient was reported to have died from renal failure.