MUTAGENICITY, CARCINOGENICITY AND TERATOGENICITY OF ANTIMONY COMPOUNDS

The paper reviews the information available concerning the mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of antimony. A claim that antimon y compounds could have mutagenic properties is based on insufficient a nd not particularly relevant data. Additional experiments, particularl y with organic antimony compounds, would be desirable, but from what w e know already, one may be confident that antimony is less a mutagenic risk than many other metals such as As, Cr, Ni, among others. Evidenc e for a carcinogenic risk of antimony in experimental animals was judg ed by the IARC sufficient for antimony trioxide and limited for antimo ny trisulfide. In man, IARC considered antimony trioxide as possibly c arcinogenic. However, exposure in all studies on which these conclusio ns are based also involved other proven or likely carcinogenic compoun ds. Studies with pure antimony compounds, especially those used in the rapy, need to be performed to clarify the situation. Although some ind ications exist that antimony trioxide could interfere with embryonic a nd fetal development, the studies seem not entirely conclusive. It is regrettable that, at least to our knowledge, the outcome of pregnancy in women treated with antimony compounds for leishmaniasis has not bee n studied. In conclusion, it appears that mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic risks of antimony compounds, if they exists at all, are no t very important.