It is used in consumer items such as boats, furniture, and log homes. Non-wood uses account for no more than 2 percent of current consumption. Short-term exposure to pentachlorophenol can lead to poisoning that is rapidly fatal. Even small amounts passing through the skin can cause sweating, high fever, breathing trouble, chest and abdomen pain, and death. Brief exposure can damage the liver, kidney, skin, blood, lungs, nervous system, and gastro-intestinal tract.
Contact can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat.
Long-term exposure to pentachlorophenol may cause mutations in living cells, and may damage a developing fetus. Chronic poisoning may cause weight loss, weakness, and excessive sweating. Populations with potentially high exposure to pentachlorophenol are people involved in wood preservation and lumber mills, carpenters, loading dock workers, and pesticide applicators. Residents near pentachlorophenol manufacturing plants, cooling towers, and wastewater treatment sludge disposal sites may also be exposed to the chemical at higher levels than the general public. Some families living in homes treated with pentachlorophenol have been reported to have symptoms of chronic exposure.