Report on carcinogenesis bioassay of 1,2-dichloroethane (EDC)

In a carcinogenesis bioassay of the halogenated solvent 1,2-dichloroethane (ethylene dichloride, or EDC), oral administration of the compound produced cancers in rats and mice. In male rats, dosage with EDC caused forestomach cancers, hemangiosarcomas (vascularized cancers) of multiple organs, and subcutaneous fibromas (cancers beneath the skin). Female rats exposed to EDC developed mammary (breast) cancers--in some high-dose animals as early as the 20th week of the study. The chemical also caused breast cancers as well as uterine cancers in female mice, and respiratory tract cancers in both male and female mice.