In animal experiments diphenylamine was rapidly and completely absorbed after ingestion by mouth. It underwent metabolism to sulfonyl and glucuronyl conjugates and was rapidly excreted mainly via urine. Acute oral and dermal toxicity were low. Diphenylamine can cause severe irritation to the eyes. It was not a skin irritant, and it has not been technically feasible to test acute toxicity study by inhalation. Diphenylamine targets the red blood cell system and can cause abnormal erythropoiesis in the spleen, and thus congestion of the spleen, and haemosiderosis. Changes in liver and kidneys were found upon longer exposure. At clear toxic doses of parent animals reproductive effects were limited to reduced implantation sites in F1 females associated with reduced rat litter size, implicating a possible mutagenic or teratogenic effect. No effect on development could be attributed. The U.S. CDC's NIOSH lists the following symptoms of poisoning: irritation eyes, skin, mucous membrane; eczema; tachycardia, hypertension; cough, sneezing; methemoglobinemia; increased blood pressure and heart rate; proteinuria, hematuria (blood in the urine), bladder injury; in animals: teratogenic effects.
The short-term NOAEL of 9.6 – 10 mg/kg bw/day was derived from 90-day rat, 90-day dog and 1-year dog studies and the long-term NOAEL was 7.5 mg/kg bw/day.
The Acceptable Daily Intake of diphenylamine was 0.075 mg/kg bw/day based on the 2-year rat study, applying a safety factor of 100; the Acceptable Operator Exposure Level was 0.1 mg/kg bw/day.
In a study of diphenylamine metabolism in harvested and dipped apples at different time intervals it was observed that radiolabelled residues of diphenylamine penetrate from the surface into the pulp, which after 40 weeks contained 32% of the residue. Diphenylamine was always the major residue, but 3 metabolites were found in good amounts in the apple samples, whose identification experts considered insufficient.(Kim-Kang, H. 1993. Metabolism of 14C-diphenylamine in stored apples—nature of the residue in plants. Report RPT00124. Study XBL 91071. XenoBiotic Laboratories, Inc., USA, unpublished) cited in  There is a data gap on presence or formation of nitrosamines in apple metabolism or during processing. The carcinogen 4-Aminobiphenyl can accompany diphenylamine as an impurity.
Diphenylamine has low acute and short-term toxicity to birds, but is very toxic to aquatic organisms. Risk to biological methods of sewage treatment was assessed as low.
The impurity in commercial diphenylamine which induces polycystic kidney disease in rats was identified in 1981. Laboratory studies with highly purified diphenylamine indicated that the impurity can be formed by heating diphenylamine.