Methanol; Evaluation of the effects on reproduction, recommendation for classification

Methanol is used as feedstock in the synthesis of various compounds, amongst others formaldehyde, methyl methacrylate and methylamines. It has been used as a solvent, paints thinner and as antifreeze. This report is part of a series, in which the Health Council evaluates the effects of substances on reproduction, at request of the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment. It mainly concerns substances to which man can be occupationally exposed. The Committee for Compounds toxic to reproduction, a committee of the Health Council, evaluates the effects on male and female fertility and on the development of the progeny. Moreover, the committee considers the effects of a substance on the lactation and effects on the progeny via lactation.

Committee

• BJ Blaauboer, chairman
  Toxicologist, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht
• AM Bongers, advisor
  Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, Den Haag
• JHJ Copius Peereboom-Stegeman
  Toxicologist, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen
• HFP Joosten
  Toxicologist, NV Organon, Department of Toxicology and Drug Disposition, Oss
• D Lindhout
  professor of Medical Genetics, paediatrician, University Medical Centre, Utrecht
• AH Piersma
  Reproductive toxicologist, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• N Roeleveld
  Epidemiologist, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen
• DH Waalkens-Berendsen
  Reproductive toxicologist, TNO Quality of Life, Zeist
• PJJM Weterings
  Toxicologist, Weterings Consultancy BV, Rosmalen
• ASAM van der Burght, scientific secretary
  Health Council of the Netherlands, Den Haag