Toxic Solvents: A Review

The literature on toxic solvents increases in volume from year to year, almost from day to day, both concerning those already known and closely investi-gated by a multitude of observers and also those new chemical compounds constantly being intro-duced in industrial processes. One of the most striking features of recent developments has been the extension of knowledge afforded by new and sometimes very complex scientific methods of examining the physiological response, metabolic processes, and detoxication mechanisms of animals and human beings subjected to the toxic effects of certain solvents; the detection and identification of their presence in mixtures; the chemical relationship of members of the different groups; and the measurement of the concentrations of their vapour in the atmosphere of workrooms. With regard to new solvents which have been pro-duced in recent years, it is fortunate that the majority of them, investigated by modern methods, have proved on the whole less hazardous, particularly from the viewpoint of chronic systemic poisoning, than some of the older substances whose toxicity was revealed by involuntary human experiment.