Comparative Dermal Carcinogenesis of Shale and Petroleum-Derived Distillates

Abstract

Ten test materials derived from petroleum or hydrotreated shale oils were applied 3 times/week for up to 105 weeks to the shaved skin of 25 male and 25 female C3H/HeN mice per group. Mineral oil and benzo(a) pyrene (0.15%) were control materials. Clinical observations were recorded during the study. At death, histopathologic examination was conducted on skin, internal organs and any gross lesions. Exposures to some materials were ended midway in the study due to severe irritation. Chronic toxicity of all materials was limited to inflammatory and degenerative skin changes. Significant increases over control incidence of skin tumors (squamous cell carcinoma and fibrosarcoma) occurred with both petroleum and shale-derived naphtha (21%, 50%), Jet A (26%, 28%), JP-4 (26%, 50%), and crude oils (84%, 54%). Severely hydrotreated shale oil and petroleum and shale-derived diesel distillates were not considered tumorigenic. Results indicate that toxicity of comparable petroleum and shale-derived fractions was qualitatively similar and confirm earlier findings that hydrotreating reduces or eliminates carcinogenicity of raw shale oil.

Keywords

diesel distillates hydrotreating Jet-A JP-4 petroleum shale oil skin carcinogenicity.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Petroleum Institute. (1982). The carcinogenicity of raw and spent oil shales and retort oils. API Medical Research Publication 29-32356. API, Washington, D.C.

American Petroleum Institute. (1983). The determination of the carcinogenicity of retort oils and downstream products. API Medical Research Bulletin 30-32849. API, Washington, D.C.

Argyris, T.S. (1985). Regeneration and the mechanism of epidermal tumor promotion. In: CRC Critical Reviews in Toxicology 14:211-258.

Bingham, E. , Horton, A.W. and Tye, R. (1965). The carcinogenic potency of certain oils. Arch. Environ. Health 10:449-51.

Bingham, E. , Trosset, R.P. and Warshawsky, D. (1979). Carcinogenic potential of petroleum hydrocarbons: A critical review of the literature. J. Environ. Pathol. Toxicol . 3:483-563.

Clark, C.R. , Katchen, M.A. and Dennis, M.W. (in preparation). Comparative acute toxicity of shale and petroleum derived distillate fractions.

Coomes, R.M. and Hazer, K.A. (1982). Comparison of the carcinogenic potential of crude oil and shale oil. In: The Toxicology of Petroleum Hydrocarbons ( H.N. MacFarland , C.E. Holdsworth , J.A. MacGregor , R.W. Call and M.L. Kane , eds.), pp. 208-232. American Petroleum Institute, Washington, D.C.

Guerin, M.R. , Griest, W.H. , Ho, C.-H. , Smith, L.H. and Witschi, H.P. (1986). Integrated report on the toxicological mitigation of coal liquids by hydrotreatment and other processes. Oak Ridge National Laboratory TM-10070, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.

Halder, C.A. , Warne, T.M. , Little, R.Q. and Garvin, P.J. (1984). Carcinogenicity of petroleum lubricating oil distillates: Effects of solvent refining, hydroprocessing, and blending. Amer. J. Ind. Med. 5:265-274.

10.

Holland, J.M. , Rahn, R.O. , Smith, L.H. , Clark,B.R. , Chang, S.S. and Stephens, B.S. (1979). Skin carcinogenicity of synthetic and natural petroleums. J. Occup. Med. 21:614-618.

11.

Hueper, W.C. (1953). Experimental studies on cancerigenesis of synthetic liquid fuels and petroleum substitutes. Arch. Ind. Hyg. Occup. Med. 8:307-327.

12.

International Agency For Research On Cancer. ( 1984). Mineral oils (lubricant base oils and derived products) . In: Monograph on Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, Vol. 33, pp. 87-168, IARC , Lyon, France.

13.

International Agency For Research On Cancer. ( 1985). Shale oils. In: Monograph on Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, Vol. 35, pp. 161-218, IARC, Lyon, France.

14.

Lewis, S.C. , King, R.W. , Cragg, S.T. and Hillman, D.W. (1982). Skin carcinogenic potential of petroleum hydrocarbons 2. Carcinogenesis of crude oil, distillate fractions and chemical class subfractions . In: Toxicology of Petroleum Hydrocarbons ( H.N. MacFarland , C.E. Holdsworth , J.A. MacGregor , R.W. Call and M.L. Kane , eds.), pp. 208-232. American Petroleum Institute, Washington, D.C.

15.

Nie, N.H. , Hull, C.H. , Jenkins, J.H. , Steinbrenner, K. and Bent, O.H. (1975). Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York.

16.

Wilson, J.S. and Holland, L.M. (1982). The effect of application frequency on epidermal carcinogenesis assays. Toxicol. 24:45-53.