FURAN
Overview
CAS number
110-00-9
Functional Class
Food Contaminant
CONTAMINANT
CONTAMINANT
Evaluations
Evaluation year: 2011
Comments:
Furan is hepatotoxic and hepatocarcinogenic in rats & mice; the Committee considered carcinogenicity the critical endpoint for use in human health risk assessment. The Committee's benchmark dose analysis of liver tumor incidence data from an oral bioassay in mice calculated benchmark dose lower confidence limits for 10% increase in cancer incidence (BMDL10) values ranging from 1.34 to 1.89 mg/kg bw/d. The Committee used the value of 1.34 mg/kg bw/d, adjusted to 0.96 mg/kg bw/d to account for the dosing schedule used in the study, as the point of departure. Margins of exposure (MOEs) were 960 and 480 between 0.96 mg/kg bw/d and the average and high dietary exposures, respectively, to furan for the general population, including children. The Committee considered that these MOEs indicate a human health concern for a carcinogenic compound that might act via a DNA-reactive genotoxic metabolite. The furan levels can be reduced in some foods through volatilization (e.g. by heating and stirring canned or jarred foods in an open saucepan).
Intake:
Dietary exposure estimates: Mean: 0.001 mg/kg bw per day; high: 0.002 mg/kg bw per day, inclusive of children
Tolerable Intake:
NONE ESTABLISHED; genotoxic carcinogen
Meeting:
72
Report:
Tox Monograph:
Toxicological study
Pivotal Study:
2-year carcinogenicity study in mice (Moser et al., 2009): Groups of female B6C3F1 mice (numbers in parentheses) 5–6 weeks of age were dosed intragastrically with furan (>99% pure) in corn oil (5 ml/kg bw) at 0 (50), 0.5 (100), 1.0 (100), 2.0 (50), 4.0 (50) and 8.0 (50) mg/kg bw per day, 5 days/week, for 2 years.
Animal Specie:
Mice
Effect:
Hepatocellular neoplasms
Point of departure:
BMDL10: 1.34 mg/kg bw/d, adjusted value: 0.96 mg/kg bw/day