Effect of sodium nitrilotriacetate on toxicity, teratogenecity, and tissue distribution of cadmium
Scharpf, L.G.; Hill, I.D.; Wright, P.L.; Plank, J.B.; Keplinger, M.L.; Calandra, J.C.
Nature 239(5369): 231-234
1972
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-0836 PMID: 4562736 Document Number: 48289
Major Us detergent manufacturers voluntarily agreed in 1970 to discontinue the use and manufacture of trisodium nitrilotriacetate (NTA), pending further toxicological studies. This decision was based on the preliminary report that Nta might enhance the matricidal, foeticidal and teratogenic effects of cadmium chloride and methyl mercury chloride in rats1. Nta itself does not exhibit maternal or foetal toxicity or teratogenicity at levels up to 250 mg/kg/day during organogenesis in rats and rabbits2. Several governmental and industrial laboratories have reinvestigated whether Nta enhances the toxicity of heavy metals. We have examined the effect of Nta on maternal and foetal toxicity, teratogenicity, and physiological distribution of orally administered cadmium chloride in rats.