Contamination from skin-painting test chemicals

Abstract

Anthracene, a non-carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, dissolved in acetone was painted on the clipped dorsal skin of mice in a laminar flow hood. Samples were taken over a 17-day period to estimate worker exposures to, and environmental contamination from, the chemicals used. The results indicated that the laminar flow hood retained nearly all the test chemical and the solvent, and that animal maintenance procedures and transport accounted for most of the contamination that occurred.