Carcinogenicity and toxicity of 1,2-dibromoethane in the rat

A chronic inhalation study of ethylene dibromide (EDB) was conducted in Sprague-Dawley rats. Four groups of rats received either control air, 0.05% disulfiram in the diet, 20 ppm of EDB, or 20 ppm of EDB and 0.05% disulfiram in the diet for 18 months. Rats receiving 20 ppm of EDB had high mortality and an increase, compared to controls, in one or both sexes of tumor incidences in the mammary gland, spleen, adrenal, liver, kidney, and subcutaneous tissue. A combined treatment of 20 ppm of EDB and 0.05% disulfiram in the diet resulted in earlier deaths (all within 14 months) and decreases in body weight gain, food consumption, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and RBC counts. This combination of EDB and disulfiram treatment also caused high incidences of tumors in liver, spleen, kidney, adrenal, thyroid, lung, mesentery, and mammary gland in one or both sexes. Testicular atrophy was found in 90% of the male rats that received a combination of EDB and disulfiram treatment.