ABSTRACT
Most well-known warfare chemicals have similar molecular structures as the organophosphorus compounds. One of these, parathion, has been shown to exhibit body regional variation in human skin absorption (1). The exposed head and neck region (4), trunk (3), and genital area (12) absorb more chemical than arms and hands, and legs and feet. In agricultural use, parathion has caused human death. Permeability constants (Kp) (potential chemical absorbed throughhuman skinperunit areaand time) indexed to regional variation gives the mass of chemical absorbed through a region of the human body and the total body absorption when summed over all regions. The further overlap of toxicity data to absorption can be used to estimate potential lethality.
