Lifetime toxicity/carcinogenicity studies of FD & C Blue No. 1 (brilliant blue FCF) in rats and mice

FD & C Blue No. 1 was fed to Charles River CD rats and CD-1 mice as a dietary admixture in lifetime toxicity/carcinogenicity studies. The rat study was conducted with an in utero phase in which the compound was administered to the F0 generation rats (60/sex/group) at dietary concentrations of 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.1%, 1.0% or 2.0%. After randomly selecting the F1 animals, the lifetime phase was initiated at the same levels with 70 rats/sex/group, including two control groups. The maximum exposure times were 116 and 111 wk for males and females, respectively. The no-observed-adverse-effect levels are dietary concentrations of 2.0% for males (1072 mg/kg body weight/day), and 1.0% for females (631 mg/kg/day) based on a 15.0% decrease in terminal body weight and decreased survival in the high-dose females compared with the combined control groups. Charles River CD-1 mice (60/sex/group) were fed FD & C Blue No. 1 as a dietary admixture at levels of 0.0%, 0.0%, 0.5%, 1.5% or 5.0% in a lifetime toxicity/carcinogenicity study. The maximum exposure time was 104 wk for both males and females. No consistent, significant compound-related adverse effects were noted. The no-observed-adverse-effect level established in this study is a dietary concentration of 5.0% (7354 mg/kg/day and 8966 mg/kg/day for male and female mice, respectively.