The effects of chlorine dioxide and sodium chlorite on erythrocytes of A/J and C57L/J mice.

Because chlorinated surface drinking water supplies have been implicated in an increased risk of cancer, alternative methods of disinfection are being proposed; chlorine dioxide is the most seriously considered. This study reports that chlorine dioxide exposure of two strains of laboratory mice (A/J and C57L/J) to 100 ppm chlorine dioxide in their drinking water for 30 days produced no changes in 11 hematological parameters measured. Chlorite (a product formed from chlorine dioxide disinfection) produced increases in MCV (mean corpuscular volume); osmotic fragility; G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) activity; and the number of acanthocytes at exposure to 100 ppm, but not 1.0 or 10.0 ppm. These findings are consistent with membrane damage to the red cell and, in particular, the lipid fraction. Since chlorite is formed at a rate of 50 percent of the chlorine dioxide demand, serious consideration must be given to limiting chlorite formation before chlorine dioxide is adopted as a disinfectant to replace chlorine.