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1.Acute Effects:Acute exposure of humans to triethylamine vapor causes eye irritation, corneal swelling, and halo vision. People have complained of seeing "blue haze" or having "smoky vision." These effects have been reversible upon cessation of exposure. *Acute exposure can irritate the skin and mucous membranes in humans. *Acute animal tests in rats, mice, and rabbits, have demonstrated triethylamine to have moderate acute toxicity from inhalation, moderate to high acute toxicity from oral exposure, and high acute toxicity from dermal exposure. 2.Chronic Effects (Noncancer):Chronic exposure of workers to triethylamine vapor has been observed to cause reversible corneal edema. *Chronic inhalation exposure has resulted in inflammation of the nasal passage in rats.Thickening of the interalveolar walls of the lungs, mucous accumulation in the alveolar spaces of the lungs, and hematological effects have also been reported in rats chronically exposed by inhalation. *Chronic inhalation exposure of rabbits has been reported to cause irritation of the lungs, edema, moderate peribronchitis, vascular thickening, eye lesions, and, at higher levels, liver, kidney, and heart effects. *The Reference Concentration (RfC) for triethylamine is 0.007 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3) based on inflammation of the nasal passages in rats. The RfC is an estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a continuous inhalation exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without appreciable risk of deleterious noncancer effects during a lifetime. It is not a direct estimator of risk but rather a reference point to gauge the potential effects. At exposures increasingly greater than the RfC, the potential for adverse health effects increases. Lifetime exposure above the RfC does not imply that an adverse health effect would necessarily occur. *EPA has medium confidence in the studies on which the RfC was based because a concentration-response was evident, although a lowest-observed-adverse-effect level (LOAEL) could not be identified and a second species was not used; low confidence in the database as only a single reproductive/developmental study exists, which is by the oral route and is therefore not useful for inhalation risk assessment, and no chronic studies exist; and, consequently, low confidence in the RfC. *EPA has not established a Reference Dose (RfD) for triethylamine. 3.Reproductive/Developmental Effects:No information is available on the reproductive or developmental effects of triethylamine in humans. *No reproductive or developmental effects were reported in a 3-generation study in rats exposed to triethylamine in drinking water; however, this study had limitations. 4.Cancer Risk:No information is available on the carcinogenic effects of triethylamine in humans or animals. *EPA has not classified triethylamine with respect to potential carcinogenicity.
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