Butylate (CHEM003441)

Butylate is one of the pesticide compounds considered by the US EPA to have the greatest potential for leaching into groundwater (9). Butylate is only slightly soluble in water (46 micrograms/ml). It degrades fairly rapidly with a soil half life of 3 to 10 weeks in moist soils under aerobic conditions. The major routes of exposure to butylate are through the skin and by inhalation. Butylate is a thiocarbamate, a class of chemicals known for their tendency to irritate the skin and the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. It may cause symptoms of scratchy throat, sneezing, and coughing when large amounts of dusts or spray are inhaled (4,7). Slight eye irritation can be caused by butylate, potentially leading to permanent eye damage [7,22]. Skin irritation was observed in rabbits topically exposed to 2000 mg of technical butylate (85.71% pure) for 24 hours.