Cobalt health effects

Dieligen N and Inel Y (1994) Cobalt-copper and cobalt-zinc effects on duckweed growth and metal accumulation. J Environ Sci Health A29 63-81. 

It may be noted that many toxic metals are also essential for the body, at trace levels. Their absence from the diet can produce various deficiency syndromes and adverse health effects. Such essential metals include selenium, copper, cobalt, zinc, and iron. On the other hand, excessive intake can produce serious adverse reactions. Also, a number of metals, such as aluminum, bismuth, lithium, gold, platinum, and thallium, have been used in medicine. Despite their beneficial effects, excessive intake of these metals and their salts can cause serious poisoning. 

Other airborne irritants, as well as ore dust and diesel exhaust, may act synergistically with radon and radon daughters to increase the incidence of adverse health effects. Epidemiological studies report the presence of other airborne irritants in mining environments, including arsenic, hexavalent chromium, nickel, cobalt (Sevc et al. 1984), serpentine (Radford and Renard 1984), iron ore dust (Damber and Larsson 1982 Ediing and Axelson 1983 Radford and Renard 1984), and diesel exhaust (Damber and Larsson 1982 Sevc et al. 1984). 

Long-lived radioactive isotopes such as cobalt-60 (>5year half-life) or cesium-137 (30-year half-life) can contaminate and render an area uninhabitable for many years. Biologically active isotopes (such as iodine-131) attack specific organs (such as the thyroid) or systems in the hiunan body, causing serious health effects such as cancer. Many radioactive isotopes are not only radiation hazards but are also heavy metals and poisons. 

Finley BL, Monnot AD, Gaffney SH, Paustenbach DJ. Dose-response relationships for blood cobalt concentrations and health effects a review of the literature and application of a biokinetic model. J Toxicol Environ Health B Crit Rev 2012 15(8) 493-523. 

Handl, J. and A. Pfau. 1989. Long-term transfer of 1-129 into the food chain. Sci. Total Environ. 85 245-252. Handl, J., A. Pfau, and F.W. Huth. 1990. Measurements of 129I into the food chain. Health Phys. 58 609-618. Hanson, L.H. 1990. Sterilizing effects of cobalt-60 and cesium-137 radiation on male sea lampreys. North Amer. Jour. Fish. Manage. 10 352-361. 

Cobalamin, 25 803 folic acid and, 25 802 Cobalt (Co), 7 207-228. See also Co-base superalloys 60Co isotope 60Co nucleus Fe-Ni-Co alloys Dicobalt octacarbonyl Tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl analysis, 7 215-216 in ceramic-matrix composites, 5 554t coke formation on, 5 266 colloidal suspensions, 7 275 economic aspects, 7 214-215 effect on copper resistivity, 7 676t environmental concerns, 7 216 health and safety factors, 7 216-218 in M-type ferrites, 11 66, 69 occurrence, 7 208... 

Among the other notations is that acetaldehyde is to be avoided, it being a respiration inhibitor. It is related to ethyl alcohol or ethanol and also to acetic acid, but not necessarily to citric acid as involved in the carboxylic acid or citric acid cycle. Alkaloids are expectedly respiration inhibitors, and anesthetics can have respiration inhibition as a side effect. Aromatic adds such as phenol are bad news, as are arsenate, cyanide, isothiocyanate, and thiocyanate. The heavy metals cadmium, cobalt, copper, ruthenium, vanadate, and zinc are regarded as health risks, if not for respiration, for other reasons. 

The chemical elements are essential to each of us in our daily lives. The most important element is carbon, which is found in virtually all of the molecules that make up the living cell. Although certain elements are present in our bodies in tiny amounts, these elements can have profound effects on our health and behavior. As we will see in this chapter, lithium can be a miracle treatment for someone with manic-depressive disease, and our cobalt levels can have a remarkable impact on behavior. Many elements in our bodies serve no useful purpose, but they are found in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. As a result, the human body typically contains significant amounts of elements such as aluminum, barium, strontium, uranium, and gold, which are usually deposited in the bones or liver. 

The CDI and the cobalt industry are actively addressing health and environmental concerns related to cobalt, such as inhalation, skin sensitisation and systemic effects. 

Nakemura M, Yasuhochi Y, Minokami S (1975) Effects of cobalt on heme biosynthesis in rat liver and spleen. J Biochem 78 373-380 Naleway C, Chou H-N, Muller T, Dabney J, Roxe D, Siddiqui F (1991) On-site screening for urinary Hg concentrations and correlation with glomerular and renal tubular function. J Public Health Dent 51 12-17 Needleman HL, Gatsonis CA (1990) Low-level lead exposure and the IQ of children. J Am Med Assoc 263 673-678... 

The transition metals such as iron, copper, nickel, cobalt, etc. are all present in agricultural soil, as are indeed most of the elements which make up the lithosphere of our planet. Some of these elements are present in minute quantities, the so-called trace elements which are very often essential to plant growth and subsequent animal health. Iron is absolutely essential to plant growth and is present in parts per hundred in any soil. Nickel, by contrast, is toxic but is nevertheless present in some quantity in most soils. It also found in the plant mass in very small quantities, varying with the type of plant and with the concentration of nickel in the ground. The importance of nickel for plants has not been established and its presence seems to be coincidental. A simple computation will bring the possible effects of nickel as part of plastic films into its proper perspective. 

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