Assessment of the Dermal Absorption Potential of Modified M1 Propellants, WC-732 and PAP-7993

摘要

Soliders handling modular artillery propellant increments may have exposure to chemical components to propellants via the skin on the hands. The Modular Artillery Charge System (MACS) includes both a low zone XM231 increment and a high zone XM232 increment which were previously determined to not cause a dermal absorption hazard under potential use conditions (McDougal et al., l998a, 1998b). Chemical concentrations on the surface of these increments in the field and laboratory experiments using excised rodent skin were used to determine whether absorption through the skin might cause a systemic hazard. The propellant components of either of the increments would not be expected to cause a dermal absorption hazard. The purpose of this analysis was to ascertain if changes in the chemical composition of (M1) propellant contained in the XM231 increment might change the previous assessment of the propellant hazard. Dermal absorption of WC-732 and PAP-7993 was not tested in the laboratory as was previously done with the M1 propellant. Our analysis suggests that the changed formulations, WC-732 and PAP-7993, would not penetrate the skin sufficiently to be a systemic hazard under operational handling and loading conditions.