Facts About Ammonia
What is ammonia?
Ammonia is a colorless gas with a very sharp odor. It is a chemical made both by humans and by nature. The amount of ammonia manufactured every year by humans is almost equal to the amount produced by nature every year. The odor of ammonia is familiar to most people because ammonia is used in smelling salts, household cleaners, and window cleaning products. Ammonia easily dissolves in water.
How does ammonia enter the environment?
Since ammonia occurs naturally in the environment, we are regularly exposed to low levels in air, soil, animals, and water. Ammonia does not last very long in the environment. It is rapidly taken up by plants, bacteria, and animals. Ammonia does not build up in the food chain, but serves as a nutrient for plants and bacteria.
How can people be exposed to ammonia?
Outdoors, you may be exposed to high levels of ammonia gas in air from leaks and spills at production plants and storage facilities, and from pipelines, tank trucks, railcars, ships, and barges that transport ammonia. Higher levels of ammonia in air may occur when fertilizer with ammonia compounds is applied to farm fields. Farmers, cattle ranchers, and people whose raise other types of livestock and/or poultry can be exposed to ammonia from decaying manure. Some manufacturing processes also use ammonia.
Indoors, you may be exposed to ammonia while using household products that contain ammonia such as cleaning solutions, window cleaners, floor waxes, and smelling salts. Ammonia can also be released into the household air when pets urinate on rugs and when litter boxes are not changed often enough.
How can ammonia affect my health?
No health effects have been found in humans exposed to typical environmental concentrations of ammonia. Exposure to high levels of ammonia in air may be irritating to your skin, eyes, throat, and lungs and cause coughing and burns. Lung damage and death may occur after exposure to very high concentrations of ammonia. Some people with asthma may be more sensitive to breathing ammonia than others.
Swallowing concentrated solutions of ammonia can cause burns in your mouth, throat, and stomach. Splashing ammonia into your eyes can cause burns and even blindness.
Is there a medical test to show whether I’ve been exposed to ammonia?
There are tests to measure ammonia in blood and urine. These tests can not definitely determine whether you have been exposed because ammonia is normally found in our bodies.
For more information contact
- Your healthcare provider
- Your local health department
- Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) at 317-351-7190 ext. 260
- Indiana Poison Center toll-free at 1-800-222-1222
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html
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