Phenol’Introduction About Health Effects

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Phenol is a colorless or white solid when it is pure. It is usually sold and used, however, as a liquid. It has a strong odor that is sickeningly sweet and irritating. It evaporates more slowly than water and dissolves fairly well in water. Phenol can catch on fire.Phenol is mainly a man-made chemical, although it is found in nature in animal wastes and organic material. The largest single use of Phenol is to make plastics, but it also is used to make caprolactam (used to make nylon 6 and other man-made fibers) and bisphenol A (used to make epoxy and other resins). It also is used as a slimicide (a chemical that kills bacteria and fungi found in watery slimes), as a disinfectant, and in medical products.
The serious effects of a harmful substance usually increase as both the level and length of exposure increase. Repeated exposure to low levels of phenol in drinking water has been linked with diarrhea and mouth sores in humans; eating very large amounts of Phenol has resulted in death. Laboratory animals that drank very large amounts of phenol in water had muscle tremors and loss of coordination.The effects on humans of breathing phenol in air are unknown. Exposure of animals to high levels of phenol in air for a few minutes is irritating to the lungs, and repeated exposure for several days causes muscle tremors and loss of coordination. Exposure to high levels of Phenol for several weeks results in paralysis and severe injury to the heart, kidneys, liver, and lungs, followed by death in some cases.When exposures involve the skin surface, the size of the total exposed skin can influence the severity of the toxic effects. Small amounts of Phenol put on the skin of animals for short times can cause blisters and burns on the exposed area, and spilling weak phenol solutions on large parts of the body (more than 25% of the body surface) can result in death.
The effects of exposure to phenol on human reproduction and the developing fetus are unknown. Pregnant animals that drank water containing high amounts of phenol gave birth to offspring that had low birth weights and birth defects. We do not know whether Phenol causes cancer in humans, but cancer occurs in mice when phenol is put on the skin. When phenol is combined with other chemicals that cause cancer and put on the skin, more cancer may occur than when the other chemicals are put on alone.Phenol can have positive effects when used for medical reasons. It is an antiseptic (kills germs) when put on the skin and may also have antiseptic properties when gargled as a mouthwash. It is an anesthetic (relieves pain) and is a part of some sore-throat remedies (lozenges and formulas). Small amounts of Phenol in water have been injected into nerves to reduce pain caused by some nerve disorders. Phenol will kill the outer layers of skin if it remains on the skin, and small amounts of strong solutions of phenol are sometimes put on the skin to remove warts and to treat other skin spots and disorders.