Long term health effects (& carcinogenicity)

In the previous paragraphs several human health effects are listed. There is also a wide variety of substances that cause long-term health effects.

The most well known long term health effect is probably carcinogenicity; the ability to cause or increase the risk of cancer. However, GESAMP lists several additional long-term health effects:

Mutagenic substances induce mutations in DNA, which produce a permanent transmissible difference in characteristics of an offspring from those of the parent.

Substances that cause disturbances of reproductive ability or the development of the offspring are called reprotoxic.

Sensitising substances cause skin or airway hypersensitisation, this means that future contact with the substance will cause specific adverse effects. Photosensitising substances need light to become activated.

Some substances cause lung injury, directly after swallowing, they are called aspiration hazards.

Target Organ Oriented Systemic Toxicity (TOST) is the ability of a substance to change the function or morphology of an organ. Some examples of these are neurotoxicity and immunotoxicity, the ability of a substance to cause damage to the nervous system and the immune system respectively.

Long-term health effects are indicated in the GESAMP Hazard Profile column D3.