This publication evaluates the risk to human health and the environment posed by exposures to acrolein, a clear, colourless liquid which is released to the atmosphere as a product of fermentation and ripening processes. It is also emitted by forest fires as a product of incomplete combustion.

This publication evaluates the risk to human health and the environment posed by exposures to acrolein. Acrolein is a clear, colourless liquid with an intensively acrid odour. It is released to the atmosphere as a product of fermentation and ripening processes. It is also emitted by forest fires as a product of incomplete combustion. In Canada, acrolein is used mainly as an aquatic herbicide in irrigation canals and as a microbiocide in produced water during oil exploration. Based upon studies conducted primarily in laboratory animals, adverse health effects associated with exposure to acrolein are mostly confined to the tissue of first contact (i.e., the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts after inhalation and ingestion, respectively) and are concentration related.