Triethanolamine
MAK Value Documentation, addendum – Translation of the German version from 2018
Andrea Hartwig1 (Chair of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)MAK Commission2
1 Institute of Applied Biosciences, Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20a, Building 50.41, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
2 Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Kennedyallee 40, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Abstract
The German Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has re‐evaluated the maximum concentration at the workplace (MAK value) of triethanolamine [102‐71‐6].
Critical effect is the inflammation of the larynx observed in a 28‐day study in rats with a BMDL05 of 14 mg/m3. An analysis of the studies with monoethanolamine, diethanolamine and 7 other studies with substances that cause inflammation of the larynx shows that the NOAEC in subchronic or chronic studies is lower than in subacute studies. Therefore, for a chronic exposure to triethanolamine at the workplace a decrease of the NOAEC cannot be excluded and the MAK value is lowered to 1 mg/m3 for the inhalable fraction.
Triethanolamine remains assigned to Peak Limitation Category I for locally acting substances. An excursion factor of 1 is set by analogy with the other ethanolamines.
