Royal Demolition Explosive, the most important military high explosive in the US, is "a possible human carcinogen."

After Chief Insp. Reynold Rosero of the Philippine Bomb Data Center said that traces of RDX were found in the scene of the explosion at Glorietta 2 mall, the authorities have had difficulty downplaying its significance.

Philippine National Police Chief Avelino Razon and Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno claimed in separate instances that RDX is used in “everyday items.” This is to support the theory that the Glorietta 2 bomb blast was triggered not by a bomb but by an industrial explosion.

We thought that if this claim were true, then surely that fact could be found somewhere in the Internet. Newsbreak did a quick Internet search and here’s what we found out.

RDX stands for Royal Demolition Explosive. Also known as cyclonite or hexogen, it is currently the most important military high explosive in the United States.

A synthetic product that does not occur naturally in the environment, RDX is “very explosive” and highly toxic according to a Toxicology Profile on RDX which was prepared by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) of the US Department Of Health And Human Services. (Click here to download the Toxicology Profile).

As a military explosive, it “can be used alone as a base charge for detonators” or “mixed with another explosive such as TNT to form cyclotols, which produce a bursting charge for aerial bombs, mines, and torpedoes.”

RDX is commonly used in the military as an ingredient in plastic bonded explosives, or plastic explosives which have been used as explosive fill in almost all types of munition compounds. For instance, C-4 is 91 percent RDX.

Exposure to RDX, according to the Toxicology Profile, may cause “harmful health effects.” It said that RDX can cause seizures (a problem of the nervous system) in humans and animals when large amounts are inhaled or eaten.

Civilian Uses

RDX does have civilian applications. These include use in fireworks, demolition blocks, and as a heating fuel for food rations of soldiers. The profile noted though that soldiers who were exposed to an unspecified amount of C-4 (91 percent of which is RDX) as a cooking fuel for an unknown duration experienced nausea and vomiting.

RDX has limited civilian use as a rat poison. But none of the materials we found on the subject mentions it being used in cosmetics or deodorants. In fact, the Toxicology Report noted steps that the US Environmental Protection Agency is taking to address possible instances of environmental contamination with RDX. The ATSDR study was used by the EPA to classify RDX as "a possible human carcinogen."

Where then did the theory that RDX can be found in deodorants or cosmetics come from? Muntinlupa Rep. Rufino Biazon says the theory may have come from the fact that hexamine, a component of RDX, is indeed found in deodorants.

Hexamine itself is not an explosive. It becomes an explosive compound only when it is made to react with nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, glacial acetic acid, and acetic anhydride to produce RDX in what is called the Bachmann process. But it was RDX, not hexamine that was reportedly found in the Glorietta blast site.

Biazon says the claim that RDX is a component of deodorants is either an indication of incompetence on the part of the police or “a deliberate attempt to mislead.”

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