Twenty animals of each sex were placed on test as untreated controls for each species. These animals were not gavaged. A high incidence of early death was observed among chloropicrin-dosed rats. Deaths among dosed rats occurred as early as week 1 for females and week 6 for males. Median survival was week 48 for high dose males, week 54 for low dose males, week 70 for high dose females and week 59 for low dose females.
Statistical tests indicate a positive association between chloropicrin dosage and mortality of rats.
No neoplasms were observed at higher incidences in dosed than control rats. In rats of both sexes, incidences of adenoma of the pituitary and of adenocarcinoma or fibroadenoma of the mammary gland were higher in control groups than dosed groups. It is likely that most dosed rats did not survive long enough to be at risk from late-appearing tumors. A rapid decrease in survival after the first year of the study was observed among high dose mice of both sexes. Survival of high dose male mice decreased from 80 percent in week 54 to 26 percent in week 90.