NCJ Number
190891
Date Published
1999
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This document provides a health risk assessment for the chemical warfare agent soman (GD).
Abstract
Soman (GD) is an organophosphate nerve agent found at several stockpiles and nonstockpile munitions sites in the United States. At the request of the Army, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) conducted a health risk assessment of GD. The assessment included a detailed analysis of GD’s physical and chemical properties, environmental fate, mechanism of action, and animal and human toxicity data. On the basis of that assessment, ORNL proposed a reference dose (RfD) of a number of milligrams/kilograms of body weight per day for noncancer health effects of GD exposure. Because there was no evidence that GD is carcinogenic, a slope factor was not derived. The Army’s Surgeon General accepted ORNL’s proposed RfD as an interim exposure value until the National Research Council conducted an independent evaluation of the proposed RfD. It was concluded that the approach used by ORNL to calculate the RfD for GD is consistent with the guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency. On the basis of available toxicity and related data of GD, it was concluded that the Army’s interim RfD per day is scientifically valid. The major gap in the available information on GD is the lack of an oral subchronic or chronic toxicity study that demonstrates a clear dose-response relationship between GD exposure and inhibition. If further research reveals that significant toxic effects can be induced by any of the nerve agents evaluated at doses below those that cause significant inhibition, new studies should be conducted to reassess the safety of the recommended RfD for GD. 1 table and 26 references