Toxicity
Sodium chlorite is a strong oxidant and can therefore be expected to cause clinical symptoms similar to the well known sodium chlorate: methemoglobinemia, hemolysis, renal failure. A dose of 10-15 grams of sodium chlorate can be lethal. Methemoglobemia had been demonstrated in rats and cats, and recent studies by the EMEA have confirmed that the clinical symptomatology is very similar to the one caused by sodium chlorate in rats, mice, rabbits, and green monkeys.
There is only one human case in the medical literature of chlorite poisoning. It seems to confirm that the toxicity is equal to sodium chlorate. From the analogy with sodium chlorate, even small amounts of about 1 gram can be expected to cause nausea, vomiting and even life-threatening hemolysis in Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficient persons.
The EPA has set a maximum contaminant level of 1 milligram of chlorite per liter (1 mg/L) in drinking water.
Read more about this topic: Sodium Chlorite