ToxFAQsā¢ for Cyanide for Cyanide
Spanish: Cianuro
CAS#: 74-90-8; 143-33-9; 151-50-8; 592-01-8; 544-92-3; 506-61-6; 460-19-5; 506-77-4
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This fact sheet answers the most frequently asked health questions about cyanide. For more information, you may call the ATSDR Information Center at 1-888-422-8737. This fact sheet is one in a series of summaries about hazardous substances and their health effects. This information is important because this substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present.
Highlights
Exposure to high levels of cyanide harms the brain and heart, and may cause coma and death. Exposure to lower levels may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains, vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and
enlargement of the thyroid gland. Cyanide has been found in at least 471 of the 1,662 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
What is cyanide?
Cyanide is usually found joined with other chemicals to form compounds. Examples of simple cyanide compounds are
hydrogen cyanide, sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide.
Certain bacteria, fungi, and algae can produce cyanide, and
cyanide is found in a number of foods and plants. In certain
plant foods, including almonds, millet sprouts, lima beans, soy, spinach, bamboo shoots, and cassava roots (which are a major source of food in tropical countries), cyanides occur naturally as part of sugars or other naturally-occurring compounds. However, the edible parts of plants that are eaten in the United States, including tapioca which is made from cassava roots, contain relatively low amounts of cyanide.
Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless gas with a faint, bitter, almond-like
odor. Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are both white
solids with a bitter, almond-like odor in damp air. Cyanide and
hydrogen cyanide are used in electroplating, metallurgy, organic
chemicals production, photographic developing, manufacture
of plastics, fumigation of ships, and some mining processes.
What happens to cyanide when it enters the
environment?
- Cyanide enters air, water, and soil from both natural processes
and industrial activities.
- In air, cyanide is mainly found as gaseous hydrogen cyanide;
a small amount is present as fine dust particles.
- The half-life (the time needed for half of the material to be
removed) of hydrogen cyanide in the atmosphere is about 1ā
3 years.
- Most cyanide in surface water will form hydrogen cyanide
and evaporate.
- Cyanide in water does not build up in the bodies of fish.
- Cyanides are fairly mobile in soil. Once in soil, cyanide can
be removed through several processes. Some cyanide
compounds in soil can form hydrogen cyanide and evaporate,
whereas some cyanide compounds will be transformed into other
chemical forms by microorganisms in soil. At the high
concentrations, cyanide becomes toxic to soil microorganisms.
Because these microorganisms can no longer change cyanide
to other chemical forms, cyanide is able to passes through soil
into underground water.
How might I be exposed to cyanide?
- Breathing air, drinking water, touching soil, or eating foods
that contain cyanide.
- Smoking cigarettes and breathing smoke-filled air during fires
are major sources of cyanide exposure.
- Breathing air near a hazardous waste site containing cyanide.
- Eating foods naturally containing cyanide compounds, such
as tapioca (made from cassava roots), lima beans, and almonds.
However, the portions of these plants that are eaten in the United
States contain relatively low amounts of cyanide.
How can cyanide affect my health?
You are not likely to be exposed to large enough amounts of
cyanide in the environment to cause adverse health effects. The
severity of the harmful effects following cyanide exposure depends in part on the form of cyanide, such as hydrogen cyanide
gas or cyanide salts. Exposure to high levels of cyanide for a
short time harms the brain and heart and can even cause coma
and death. Workers who inhaled low levels of hydrogen cyanide
over a period of years had breathing difficulties, chest pain,
vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the
thyroid gland.
Some of the first indications of cyanide poisoning are rapid, deep
breathing and shortness of breath, followed by convulsions
(seizures) and loss of consciousness. These symptoms can occur
rapidly, depending on the amount eaten. The health effects of
large amounts of cyanide are similar, whether you eat, drink, or
breathe it; cyanide uptake into the body through the skin is
slower than these other means of exposure. Skin contact with
hydrogen cyanide or cyanide salts can irritate and produce sores.
How likely is cyanide to cause cancer?
There are no reports that cyanide can cause cancer in people or
animals. EPA has determined that cyanide is not classifiable as
to its human carcinogenicity.
How can cyanide affect children?
Effects reported in exposed children are like those seen in exposed
adults. Children who ate large quantities of apricot pits, which
naturally contain cyanide as part of complex sugars, had rapid
breathing, low blood pressure, headaches, and coma, and some
died. Cyanide has not been reported to directly cause birth
defects in people. However, among people in the tropics who
eat cassava root, children have been born with thyroid disease
because of the mothers' exposure to cyanide and thiocyanate
during pregnancy. Birth defects occurred in rats that ate cassava
root diets, and harmful effects on the reproductive system
occurred in rats and mice that drank water containing sodium
cyanide.
How can families reduce the risk of exposure to
cyanide?
Families can reduce their exposure to cyanide by not breathing
in tobacco smoke, which is the most common source of cyanide
exposure for the general population. In the event of a building
fire, families should evacuate the building immediately, because smoke from burning plastics contains cyanide (and carbon
monoxide). Breathing this smoke can lead to unconsciousness
or death. Cyanide in smoke can arise from the combustion of
certain plastics (e.g., polyacrylamines, polyacrylics,
polyurethane, etc.).
Compounds that release cyanide are naturally present in plants.
The amounts are usually low in the edible portion but are higher
in cassava. Pits and seeds of common fruits, such as apricots,
apples, and peaches, may have substantial amounts of cyanidereleasing
chemicals, so people should avoid eating these pits
and seeds to prevent accidental cyanide poisoning.
Is there a medical test to show whether I've been
exposed to cyanide?
There are medical tests to measure blood and urine levels of
cyanide; however, small amounts of cyanide are always detectable
in blood and urine. Tissue levels of cyanide can be measured
if cyanide poisoning is suspected, but cyanide is rapidly cleared
from the body, so the tests must be done soon after the exposure.
An almond-like odor in the breath may alert a physician that a
person was exposed to cyanide.
Has the federal government made recommendations to
protect human health?
EPA regulates the levels of cyanide that are allowable in drinking
water. The highest level of cyanide allowed in drinking water is
0.2 parts cyanide per 1 million parts of water (0.2 ppm).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has
set a limit for hydrogen cyanide and most cyanide salts of 10
parts cyanide per 1 million parts of air (10 ppm) in the workplace.
References
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 2006. Toxicological Profile for Cyanide. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
Where can I get more information?
If you have questions or concerns, please contact your community or state health or environmental quality department or:
For more information, contact:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Office of Innovation and Analytics, Toxicology Section
4770 Buford Highway
Chamblee, GA 30341-3717
Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO 888-232-6348 (TTY)
Email: Contact CDC-INFO
ATSDR can also tell you the location of occupational and environmental health clinics. These clinics specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and treating illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances.