Studies of carcinogenicity of sodium chlorite in B6C3F1 mice

The carcinogenic activities of sodium chlorite in B6C3F1 mice were examined. Sodium chlorite was given at concentrations of 0 (control), 0.025% (low dose), or 0.05% (high dose) in the drinking water of 150 female and 150 male mice for 80 weeks, after which time the animals were returned to distilled water without sodium chlorite. All mice were sacrificed 85 weeks from the beginning of the experiment. The incidence of tumor-bearing animals was 32% (control), 34% (low dose), and 26% (high dose) in female mice, and 46% (control), 57% (low dose), and 53% (high dose) in male mice. The types and incidence of neoplasms that occurred frequently in each group of both sexes were similar to those observed spontaneously in B6C3F1 mice. The incidence of lymphomas/leukemias in the high dose group of females (2%), however, was lower than that in the control group (15%). Furthermore, the incidence of pulmonary adenomas in the high dose group of males (12%) was higher than that in the control group (0%), but neither dose-related increases in the adenoma incidences nor increased incidences of the adenocarcinomas were observed. These results indicated no clear evidence of a carcinogenic potential of sodium chlorite in B6C3F1 mice.