Sulfur Dioxide

The ubiquity of sulfur dioxide as an air pollutant combined with reports of effects of the gas and its blood metabolite on DNA and chromosomes, prompted a study of possible mutagen action on mammalian oocytes. Utilizing in vitro and in vivo systems, mouse, ewe, and cow oocytes were examined for cytologic evidence of structural or numerical damage in meiosis. Fragmentation with rearrangement seen at M1 and M2 and anaphase lagging seen in vitro in each species are classically known to be etiologic in chromosome abnormalities and must be considered, especially in contaminated areas with foci of fetal loss involving ewe and cow. Proposed Chemical for 20 Office of Environmental DART IC Consideration Health Hazard Assessment Sulfur dioxide September, 2007 Proposed Chemical for 21 Office of Environmental DART IC Consideration Health Hazard Assessment Sulfur dioxide September, 2007 A study of the toxicity of sulphite. I. Lockett MF and Natoff IL. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1960; 12:488-496. The effect of sodium metabisulphite, 750 p.p.m. as SO2, in the drinking water, has been studied through three generations of rats in experiments lasting for nearly 3 years. The metabisulphite was without effect on growth, the intake of food and fluid and the output of feces. It did not influence fetility, the weight of the newborn or lactation: neither did it increase the frequency with which tumours developed.