A public health statement summarizes information about a hazardous substance. The information is taken from a toxicological profile developed by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's (ATSDR's) Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences (DTHHS). A toxicological profile is a thorough review of a hazardous substance.

This toxicological profile examines toxaphene. This public health statement summarizes the DTHHS's findings on toxaphene, describes the effects of exposure to it, and describes what you can do to limit that exposure.

he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) identifies the most serious hazardous waste sites in the nation. The U.S. EPA then includes these sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) and targets them for federal clean-up activities. U.S. EPA has found toxaphene in at least 68 of the 1,699 current or former NPL sites.

The total number of NPL sites evaluated for toxaphene is not known. But the possibility remains that as more sites are evaluated, the number of sites at which toxaphene is found may increase. This information is important; these future sites may be sources of exposure, and exposure to toxaphene may be harmful.

When a contaminant is released from a large area such as an industrial plant or from a container such as a drum or bottle, it enters the environment. But such a release doesn't always lead to exposure. You can only be exposed to a contaminant when you come in contact with it. That contact-and therefore that exposure-can occur when you breathe, eat, or drink the contaminant, or when it touches your skin.

Even if you're exposed to toxaphene, you might not be harmed. Whether you are harmed will depend on such factors as the dose (how much), the duration (how long), and how you happen to contact it. Harm might also depend on whether you've been exposed to any other chemicals, as well as your age, sex, diet, family traits, lifestyle, and state of health.

Toxaphene is made by reacting chlorine gas with a substance called camphene. The resulting product (toxaphene) is a mixture of hundreds of different chlorinated camphenes and other, closely related chlorinated terpenes.

Toxaphene is usually found as a solid or gas. In its original form, toxaphene is a yellow to amber waxy solid that has a piney odor.

Toxaphene was one of the most heavily used pesticides in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was used primarily to control insect pests on cotton and other crops in the southern United States. Other uses included controlling insect pests on livestock and killing unwanted fish in lakes.

Toxaphene was banned for all registered uses in the United States by 1990.

Toxaphene can be released into the air, water, and soil at places where it is produced or used.

Toxaphene can enter your body from the air, water, or soil.

Toxaphene is quickly broken down into other substances in your body.

Toxaphene and its breakdown products leave your body mostly in urine and feces. Small amounts may leave through breast milk and exhaled air.

The health effects of toxaphene depend on how much toxaphene you are exposed to and the length of that exposure. Environmental monitoring data suggest that any toxaphene levels that the public might encounter by direct contact or through air, water, food, or soil are generally much lower than levels that caused adverse effects in animals.

Convulsions were experienced by some people who accidentally or intentionally swallowed large amounts of toxaphene, including three women who ate collard greens contaminated with toxaphene. However, since toxaphene is no longer used as a pesticide, you would not likely eat enough toxaphene-contaminated food to affect your nervous system in this way. Toxaphene temporarily damaged the liver and kidneys of a man who attempted suicide by drinking a large amount of an insecticide that contained toxaphene. Swollen kidneys were seen in a small boy who died after drinking a large amount of toxaphene. Kidney and liver damage were seen in animals that were given toxaphene by mouth in amounts that you would not likely get by eating food or drinking water containing toxaphene.

Effects on the immune system have been observed in laboratory studies of animals that were given toxaphene by mouth in amounts that you would not likely get by eating food or drinking water containing toxaphene.

Toxaphene caused liver cancer in mice and possibly thyroid cancer in rats that were given toxaphene by mouth in large amounts that you would not likely get by eating food or drinking water containing toxaphene.

• The Department of Health and Human Services has determined that toxaphene may reasonably be anticipated to be a carcinogen. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that toxaphene is possibly carcinogenic to humans.
• The EPA has determined that toxaphene is a probable human carcinogen.

Toxaphene would be expected to affect children in the same manner as adults. It is not known whether children are more susceptible than adults to the effects of toxaphene.

A few studies in animals have shown minor changes in fetal development. We do not know if toxaphene would cause developmental effects in humans.

Do not eat food that has been contaminated with toxaphene, although it is unlikely that any food you eat would contain detectable amounts of toxaphene, with the exception of food, such as fish, taken from surface waters that have been contaminated with toxaphene.

Do not drink water that has been contaminated with toxaphene.

Toxaphene and its breakdown products (metabolites) can be measured in blood and urine. However, the detection of toxaphene or its metabolites cannot predict the kind of health effects that might develop from that exposure. Because toxaphene and its metabolites leave the body fairly rapidly, the tests need to be conducted within days after exposure.

Regulations are enforceable by law. The U.S. EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are some federal agencies that have adopted toxic substances regulations.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have made recommendations about toxic substances. Unlike enforceable regulations, these recommendations are advisory only.

Regulations and recommendations can be expressed as "not-to-exceed" levels; that is, levels of a toxic substance in air, water, soil, or food that do not exceed a critical value usually based on levels that affect animals; levels are then adjusted to help protect humans. Sometimes these not-to-exceed levels differ among federal organizations. Different organizations use different exposure times (an 8-hour workday or a 24-hour day), different animal studies, or emphasize some factors over others, depending on their mission.

Recommendations and regulations are also updated periodically as more information becomes available.  For the most current information, check with the federal agency or organization that issued the regulation or recommendation.

Some regulations and recommendations for toxaphene include: