IPCS INCHEM Home

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Summaries & Evaluations

ISOPROPYL ALCOHOL AND ISOPROPYL OILS

VOL.: 15 (1977) (p. 223)

5. Summary of Data Reported and Evaluation

5.1 Animal data

Isopropyl alcohol has been inadequately tested in mice by skin application, inhalation and subcutaneous injection. Due to various limitations of these studies, no evaluation of the carcinogenicity of this compound can be made.

Isopropyl oils formed during the strong-acid process for synthesis of isopropyl alcohol were tested in mice by skin application, inhalation exposure and subcutaneous injection, and isopropyl oils formed during the weak-acid process were tested in mice by skin application and subcutaneous injection. Although an increased incidence of lung tumours was observed following inhalation or subcutaneous injection of isopropyl oils formed during the strong-acid process, all of these studies had some limitations due to short duration or incomplete reporting and to the unknown or variable composition of the materials tested. The available data thus do not provide sufficient evidence on which to base an evaluation of the carcinogenicity of isopropyl oils in experimental animals.

5.2 Human data

In two factories manufacturing isopropyl alcohol by the strong-acid process, involving the formation of isopropyl oils as by-products, an excess risk of cancers of the paranasal sinuses was found. An excess risk of laryngeal cancer may also have been present.

Subsequent evaluation: Suppl. 7 (1987); Vol. 71 (1999)

Last updated: 13 April 1999 





























    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations