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Bromate Toxicity and Toxicology
Bromide is chemically similar to chloride. When drinking water containing bromide is exposed to ozone, Bromate ion (BrO3-), a powerful oxidizing agent, is formed:
- Br- + O3 → BrO3-
Treatment with ozone happens to be a method used by bottlers to sterilize drinking water from natural sources. Bromate acceptable levels have been set by FDA at 10 ppb (or 10 ug/Liter).
Two significant recalls of drinking water involving bromate have occurred:
Wegmans Food You Feel Good About Spring Water Recall Aug 11, 2006, by FDA in the USA
Coca-Cola's Dasani, Mar 18, 2004, by the Food Standards Agency in the United Kingdom.
Bromate acute toxic effects.
Bromate ingestion of 20 mg has been observed to apparently cause acute abdominal pain, vomiting, or other gastrointestinal effects. This amount of ingestion corresponds to 2000 times the permissible amount of bromate in 1 liter of drinking water.
Bromate ingestion of 70 mg has been observed to apparently cause CNS effects such as sedation, lethargy, and CNS depression.
Irreversible deafness is also an effect of high dose bromate exposure.
The ability of bromate to cause cancer, especially kidney cancer, is the more significant health concern.
The more controversial use of bromate is in bread products. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has called upon FDA to add the USA to the list of governments having banned bromate:
1990 United Kingdom
1994 Canada
California has declared bromate a carcinogen under the state’s Proposition 65, in effect banning the substance.
Food & Food Additive
Toxicology
Carcinogenicity
Related topics: Chloramine, Chlorine, Chlorine Dioxide; three types of Disinfection Byproducts (Dbp's) (Bromate, Chlorite, and Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)); Trihalomethanes (Tthm)
Fisher N, Hutchinson JB, Berry R, Hardy J,
Ginocchio AV, Waite V.
Long-term toxicity and
carcinogenicity studies of the bread improver Potassium Bromate 1.
Studies in rats.
Food Cosmet
Toxicol. 1979 Feb;17(1):33-9