USAF Toxicology Research on Petroleum and Shale-Derived Aviation Gas Turbine Fuels

As one of the nation’s largest users of aircraft turbine fuels, the USAF has interest in assuring the safe use of these hydrocarbons by its military and civilian workers. This concern stimulated research to define potential adverse health effects and develop criteria for safe exposure limits for military aviation fuels. The first inhalation exposure to JP-4, the primary fuel used in USAF aircraft, was conducted in 1973. Since this initial subchronic study, the USAF has conducted numerous subchronic and one-year oncogenic inhalation studies to establish health criteria for aviation fuels. This paper summarizes the status of studies to define the toxicity of petroleum and shale-derived aircraft turbine engine fuels and discusses the preliminary findings of toxic nephropathy and primary renal tumors observed in male Fischer 344 rats.