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Chemical Sampling Information |
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| Boron |
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General Description
Synonyms: amorphous boron
OSHA IMIS Code Number: B142
Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry Number: 7440-42-8
NIOSH, Registry of Toxic Effects (RTECS) Identification Number: ED7350000
Chemical Description and Physical Properties: Odorless, black, hard, solid; brown amorphous powder; crystals
element: B
molecular weight: 10.81
Potentially hazardous incompatibilities: Avoid storing with fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, ammonia, nitric acid, sulfur, hydrogen iodide and oxidizing agents.
Health Factors
Notes:
- Elemental boron does not exist naturally.
Occupational exposure to boron is mostly through inhalation of dust during the mining and subsequent processing of borate-containing minerals (e.g., borax, colemanite, boracite, kernite, and ulexite).
- EPA's oral reference dose (daily oral exposure likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime) of boron is 0.2 mg/kg/day (based mainly on animal studies with boric acid).
- Although some animal data indicate boron to be an essential element with unknown biochemical mechanism, human requirement of boron as a micronutrient has not been conclusively established.
- The California Department of Health Services established a notification level for boron of 1 milligram per liter of drinking water.
Date Last Revised: 12/02/2005
Literature Basis:
- California Department of Health Services-Drinking Water Program: Drinking Water Notification Levels, 2005.
- U.S. EPA Integrated Risk Information System: Toxicological Review of Boron and Compounds (CAS 7440-42-8), 2004 (EPA 635/04/052).
- Panel on Micronutrients, et al.: Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2000, 800 pp.
- Pohanish, R.P. (editor): Boron, Boric Acid and Borax. In, Sittig's Handbook of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals and Carcinogens, Fourth Ed., Vol. 1. Norwich, NY: Noyes Publications, William Andrew Publishing, 2002, pp. 355-357.
Monitoring Methods used by OSHA
Laboratory Sampling/Analytical Method:
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sampling media: Low Ash Polyvinyl Chloride (LAPVC) filter
maximum volume: 960 Liters maximum flow rate: 2.0 L/min
current analytical method: Gravimetric &/or Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma; ICP/DCP-AES
method reference: OSHA SLTC In-House File
method classification: Not Validated
note: Submit as a separate sample. If sample is considered a nuisance dust then no standard available and sample is collected and analyzed gravimetrically. See Particulates not otherwise regulated (Total Dust) OR Particulates not otherwise regulated (Respirable Fraction)
Wipe sampling:
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sampling media: Whatman smear tab
analytical solvent: Deionized water
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