Subchronic oral toxicity and analytical studies on nickel rutile yellow and chrome rutile yellow with rats.

The inorganic pigments nickel rutile yellow and chrome rutile yellow were fed to groups of 15 male and 15 female rats each for 3 months at dietary levels of 0, 10, 100, 1000 and 10000 ppm, respectively. On an additional 5 animals each, levels of nickel and antimony or chromium and antimony in liver and kidneys, respectively, were measured after 1 and 2 months. Appearance, behaviour, food consumption, growth, mortality, haematological and clinical chemical data, organ weights, and gross and micromorphology of organs were not affected in any dose group. In livers and kidneys antimony median levels below 30 ppb were detectable only in the group of rats fed the highest level of 10000 ppm of the two pigments.