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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.

The new ECHA CHEM database has been released by ECHA, and it now contains all REACH registration data. There are more details on the transition of ECHA's published data to ECHA CHEM here.

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A study was carried out to examine the effect of occupational exposure to 2-methoxethanol on haematology and reproductive toxicity (specifically effect on sperm) found some evidence for depression of blood parameters (specifically erythropoietic effects). However, whilst there was statistically significant differences between control and exposed groups, average values at exposures of 4 to 4.3ppm remained within normal ranges. Significant differences seen in males were not seen in female groups and vica versa. Significant differences between the two populations (exposed and not exposed) was not always seen in analysis for trend. No effects were seen on sperm parameters.

A study was carried out to examine the association between occupational full shift exposure and haematological effects and their reversibility before and after implementation of exposure risk reduction measures. 29 exposed and 90 none exposed workers were recruited. Whole shift personal exposures were measured and urinary levels of methoxyacetic acid where determined. Haematological parameters were assessed on blood samples taken at the end of the exposure periods (3 in a 6 month period). Exposure to 42ppm average levels of methoxyethanol produced significant changes to blood parameters. Many, but not all parameters showed recovery to normal levels when exposures had reduced to 2.65ppm and 0.55ppm. However, the study shows that the correlation between the exposed group personal monitoring air exposure values and the biological monitoring parameters was far from linear. In particular, whilst the air exposure values for the male exposed group dropped from 41.9ppm to 0.55ppm between the start and end of the study (~70 fold) , the level of methoxyacetic acid (MAA) measured in urine only fell from 57.7 to 13.5 mg MAA/g creatinine (~4 fold). Since the control group measurements were 0.19ppm and 1.02 mg MAA/g creatinine, this does suggest that a significant element of the internal dose resulted from internal exposure, especially in the August group. This means that this study cannot be reliably used to determine the no effect level for 2-methoxyethanol exposure in humans (using haematological parameters as the measure of effect.)