Procedures for destruction of patulin in laboratory wastes.

Patulin is immunosuppressive and there is limited evidence of its carcinogenicity in experimental animals. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) initiated a programme for the development of degradation techniques for the commonly investigated mycotoxins. As a part of this programme, the following techniques were tested for the degradation of patulin: treatment with ammonia, treatment with ascorbic acid, and treatment with potassium permanganate in acidic or in alkaline conditions. Patulin analysis was performed by using HPLC with UV detection. Mutagenic activity of degradation residues was tested by in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 97a, TA 98, TA 100, and TA 102. Complete disappearance of patulin was not achieved after 92 h of treatment with ascorbic acid. All the other methods tested led to complete removal of the molecule. However, the technique using potassium permanganate in acidic conditions produced residues which were mutagenic without activation to Salmonella typhimurium strains TA 100 and TA 102, which was attributed later to Mn2+. The two other techniques gave satisfactory results and were selected for further validation studies.

N-nitrosamines and nitrosatable amines, potential precursors of N-nitramines, in children's pacifiers and baby-bottle nipples.

Sixteen types of children's pacifiers and baby-bottle nipples, bought in shops in Israel but produced both there and elsewhere in the world, were analyzed for their contents of N-nitrosamines, which have been shown to be potent carcinogens in animals, and of nitrosatable amines. Two methods were used: one, originating in the United States, involved dichloromethane extraction of total volatile N-nitrosamines from the nipples and pacifiers, and the other, from the Federal Republic of Germany, consisted of analysis of N-nitrosamines and their amine precursors that migrated into artificial saliva. N-Nitrosodibutylamine (NDBA). N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), and N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) were detected by the first method, at individual levels as high as 369 ppb. Using the second method, NDBA, NDEA, NDMA, and N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR) were detected at concentrations up to 41 ppb, in addition to the three nitrosatable amines dibutylamine, diethylamine, and dimethylamine. Upon nitrosation in the artificial saliva, these amines produced not only the related N-nitrosamines but also relatively high levels of the corresponding N-nitramines (N-nitrodibutylamine, N-nitrodiethylamine, and N-nitrodimethylamine), probably formed by oxidation of the N-nitrosamines by peroxides used for vulcanization of elastomers. Thus, if N-nitramines are not measured in addition to N-nitrosamines after nitrosation, the second method may underestimate the quantities of nitrosatable amines present in artificial saliva extracts. Whether N-nitramines, some of which have been shown to be both mutagenic and carcinogenic, also occur in the saliva of babies exposed to these products remains to be confirmed. Of the samples tested, 50% failed to meet both the U.S. and the FRG regulations. A larger percentage, 60%, would not conform to the new standard suggested in the United States, and more than 80% failed to comply with the even stricter Dutch standard.