Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 1992-11
Toxicological Investigations in the Semiconductor Industry: II. Studies on the Subacute Inhalation Toxicity and Genotoxicity of Gaseous Waste Products from the Aluminium Plasma Etching Process
Male and female Wistar rats were exposed to waste gas arising from a plasma etching process in the semiconductor industries for six hr per day, five days per week, for four weeks in order to characterize subacute organ toxicity and genotoxicity. The waste gas was a complex mixture of different chlorinated hydrocarbons, inorganic by-products, and unused process gases, diluted by room air. Neither death nor behavioral changes occurred after subacute exposure. No significant exposure-related effects on body weight gain, hematology, or cardiovascular parameters were observed. Only slight effects on organ weights and clinical chemistry were seen in the exposed animals. The exposed rats of both sexes showed statistically significant increases in chromosomal aberrations and sister chromatid exchanges in bone marrow cells.
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