Is ethanol genotoxic? A review of the published data

A great many studies have been carried out on the toxicology of ethanol, th e majority in the context of the effects of the consumption of alcohol in b everages. Published information relevant to the assessment of the possible genotoxic potential of ethanol has been reviewed and evaluated in terms of the safety of ethanol as an industrial chemical, rather than as a component of beverages. The available data on ethanol from standard genotoxicity tes t methods are Incomplete. There is clear evidence that ethanol is not a bac terial or mammalian cell mutagen but in vitro assays for chromosome aberrat ion, although mostly negative, have generally not included exogenous metabo lic activation. Evidence from the use of ethanol as a vehicle control sugge sts that it is not mutagenic or clastogenic in vitro. Reported tests for ch romosome aberration induction in vitro are all negative and only a minority of micronucleus tests are positive. Conflicting results have been reported for the dominant lethal assay, although an inter-laboratory study performe d to OECD guidelines was negative, There is some evidence that ethanol indu ces SCE in vivo and can also act as an aneugen at high doses. Many in live studies were designed to model alcoholism and used very high doses, sometim es for long periods. Outcomes may have been affected by disturbances of met abolism giving rise to secondary effects. It is concluded that there is no significant evidence that ethanol is a genotoxic hazard according to the cr iteria normally applied for the purpose of classification and labelling of industrial chemicals. Some degree of genotoxicity may result from excessive alcohol drinking, but this is not considered relevant to any conceivable e xposure obtainable by either inhalation or dermal exposure in the workplace .