Acute and Short-Term Oral Toxicity Tests of Ferric Dimethyldithiocarbamate (Ferbam) and Zinc Dimethyldithiocarbamate (Ziram)*

Abstract

The increasing use of the fungicides ferbam and ziram makes imperative the presentation of additional information on their toxicities. When given in single doses intraperitoneally or orally, neither compound is highly toxic. Ferbam has a much lower acute toxicity than ziram. In thirty-day feeding tests, weanling albino rats grew normally when diets contained 0.01 per cent of either compound. Mortality was marked in groups fed an 0.5 per cent diet of ferbam. Tissues taken at the end of the tests of both compounds were normal histologically. Dogs tolerated 25 mg./Kg./day for one month without injury.