Exposure to cresols occurs mainly from breathing air containing car exhaust, breathing air from homes heated with coal or wood, and smoking cigarettes. Cresols, when breathed at very high levels, may cause irritation of the nose and throat. These chemicals have been found in at least 314 of 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency. Cresols are a widely occurring natural and manufactured group of chemicals. In their pure form, they are colorless solids and may be liquids if they are mixtures.
Cresols smell like medicine.
These forms occur separately or as a mixture. They are used to dissolve other chemicals, as disinfectants and deodorizers, and to make certain chemicals that kill insect pests. Cresols are found in many foods and in wood and tobacco smoke, crude oil, coal tar, and in brown mixtures such as creosote and cresylic acids, which are wood preservatives. Small organisms in soil and water produce cresols when they break down materials in the environment. Cresols enter the environment from natural sources, car exhaust, combustion, manufacturing use, and waste sites.