Toxicity

Combustion Toxicity

For over 20 years, the public has been concerned about the potentially hazardous effects of toxic fumes in building fires. Attention has focused on how construction materials can be reliably tested for combustion toxicity, and the meaning of those results relative to the overall hazard of the fires. There are currently two recognized tests – one developed at the University of Pittsburgh and the other at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) – that yield consistent results and are reproducible from one laboratory to another. Both tests are based upon the lethal effects of combustion gases on animals (rats or mice).

The toxicity of smoke generated by the combustion of products has been defined as "the propensity of smoke to produce adverse biochemical or physiological affects." Toxicity is the study of degrees of effects in relation to degrees of dose – it is not an absolute. The nature of the products of combustion of a material are highly dependent upon the conditions of combustion.

Fullback^® does not produce toxicity as a result of combustion.

Toxicity by Contact or Ingestion

Toxicity is a matter of degree, not an absolute, and is the ability of a substance to cause some degree of injury to a living organism. In other words, a toxic substance is one that produces some adverse physiological response that would not normally occur if that substance were not present in or on the organism.

Fullback products are biologically inert and are not toxic either by contact or ingestion.