Summary
About 58.5 percent of the uniformly labeled mirex-14C administered to rats as a single oral dose was excreted in feces and 0.69% in urine after 7 days. Considerable tissue storage of mirex was observed; fat, muscle, liver, kidneys and intestines contained 27.8, 3.20, 1.75, 0.76 and 0.23 percent of the total dose, respectively 7 days after treatment. While the first half-life of mirex was 38 hours, the projected second half-life was in excess of 100 days indicating a very slow rate of elimination from the body. No metabolite of mirex was detected in the feces, urine or any of the tissues. Nor was any mirex metabolite detected on incubation with rat, mouse, and rabbit liver preparations or plant root preparations. Mirex was concentrated by pea and bean roots and smaller amounts were translocated to the aerial parts when the plants were allowed to grow in water containing 1, 5 and 10 ppm mirex for 2 days. The resistance of mirex to biodegradation and its long biological half-life indicate that this insecticide may have an environmental half-life which far surpasses that of any previously studied insecticide.
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Mehendale, H.M., Fishbein, L., Fields, M. et al. Fate of mirex-14C in the rat and plants. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 8, 200–207 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01839512
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01839512