The effects of feeding certified food azo dyes in para-phenylenediamine-hypersensitive subjects.

Abstract

The problem of cross-sensitization among some of the many compounds which contain aromatic amines has recently aroused a great deal of interest. This is due to the large number of substances in this group to which a great many people, sooner or later, are likely to be exposed and possibly sensitized. Our own renewed interest in this subject was stimulated by the finding of cross-sensitization between the azodyes in nylon stockings and paraphenylenediamine (Dob-kevitch and Baer (1)). This cross-sensitization was explained on the basis of the original studies of R. L. Mayer (2) in 1928 as being due to sensitization to compounds of quinone structure which are formed during the breakdown in the skin of at least some of the agents which contain aromatic amines. Meltzer and Baer (3) subsequently reported on a patient whose spectrum of hypersensitivity to compounds of this group was very wide, including such seemingly diverse substances as procaine and certain other local anesthetics, various sulfonamides, glycerol-para-aminobenzoate, picric acid, paraphenylenediamine, various azodyes, anilin, etc. The whole subject of cross-sensitization between these compounds has been reviewed by the senior author (4).