levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) (12/19/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH C6H5OH *** I have a question that I wish to toss out to the med students and others out there in net.med land, hoping to satisfy my curiosity. My understanding of phenol (the same as carbolic acid, right?) is that it is a fairly toxic substance, and I have heard it said that it is a carcinogenic material. Is this an accurate understanding? (Especially with respect to carcino- genicity.) Phenol seems to be used a lot in ointments and lotions, such as in Blistex lip ointment and Noxzema lotion, and I've seen it in cough drops too. Is it harmless or beneficial in the small amounts used in those items? Or is it possibly dangerous? I kind of find it hard to believe those things would be allowed on the market without debate if it were really harmful, given the usual vigorous brouhaha when something is discovered to possibly cause cancer, but mistakes have been made before and will continue to be made (not that the usage of this particular chemical is necessarily a mistake, however). Thank you for any views (pro, con, or neutral) concerning this matter. I do not wish to debate; this is largely a matter of curiosity. Perhaps I am even getting phenol mixed up in my mind with other substances with similar molecular structure that ARE carcinogenic. Thanx again.... -- ------------------------------- Disclaimer: The views contained herein are | dan levy | yvel nad | my own and are not at all those of my em- | an engihacker @ | ployer or the administrator of any computer | at&t computer systems division | upon which I may hack. | skokie, illinois | -------------------------------- Path: ..!ihnp4!ttrdc!levy
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (12/21/85)
> My understanding of phenol (the same as carbolic acid, right?) is that > it is a fairly toxic substance, and I have heard it said that it is a > carcinogenic material. > > Is this an accurate understanding? (Especially with respect to carcino- > genicity.) Phenol seems to be used a lot in ointments and lotions, such > as in Blistex lip ointment and Noxzema lotion, and I've seen it in cough > drops too. Is it harmless or beneficial in the small amounts used in > those items? Or is it possibly dangerous? I kind of find it hard to > believe those things would be allowed on the market without debate if it > were really harmful, given the usual vigorous brouhaha when something is > discovered to possibly cause cancer, but mistakes have been made before and > will continue to be made (not that the usage of this particular chemical is > necessarily a mistake, however). I was about to claim that you were confusing benzene (C6H6), a known carcinogen, with phenol (C6H5OH) when I checked with Goodman and Gilman, my favorite reference text. Along with the standard data, there was a rather ominous line without any references: "There is concern that it may be carcinogenic." If I have the chance, I'll try to do a literature search to see if any data appears. Phenol, in the concentrations used in cosmetics and throat lozenges, is weakly antiseptic and anesthetic. It's fairly toxic when applied to the skin in high dilutions because of its ability to bind with and coagulate proteins, but that wouldn't seem to be a problem with the concentrations seen in consumer items. On the other hand, there are a lot better antiseptics and anesthetics available these days, and given any controversy at all, I wouldn't go out of my way to use it. Phenol is one of the oldest antiseptics, and as befits its seniority, it has remained as an ingredient in many nostrums which were formulated long long ago, such as Noxema creme. It's pretty safe to say that more scrutiny is given to new drugs and formulations, and problems with older drugs might take a while to be discovered. Not less than 12 years ago, chloroform was a common ingredient in toothpastes and lozenges (remember when UltraBrite REALLY had a "taste you could really feel?") It was quickly removed when it was discovered to be carcinogenic, but it had been used for almost 100 years before that! -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA