Fluorine water contamination level

While the soil-io-plam segment of ihe fond chain contains some built-in safeguards against fluorine loxicily. this loxicily occurs as a result nf Ihe deposition of airborne fumes and dusts on the above-ground parts of plants, followed hy ihe consumption of these contaminated plants by animals, including humans. Also, fluorine toxicity hits been caused hy direct inhalation of the fumes and dusts, or hy drinking water with abnormally high fluorine levels. If the fumes and dusts anc mixed into the soil, they wilt be inactivated, and they will nol find their way into the food chain in toxic amounls. 

Gaseous emission from phosphoric acid plants can be scrubbed with cool contaminated recycle cooling water to relatively low emission levels. However, to minimize cooling tower or cooling pond emission, fluorine recovery often is necessary on those streams that have a significant fluorine content. 

LC-MS/MS is recognized as the technique of choice for analysing many environmental pollutants, for example fluorinated alkyl substances (FASs). These organic compounds contain carbon and fluorine, and arise as a result of biological and geochemical processes, and may be produced synthetically for heat-, oil- and water-resistant products. FAS contaminants have been identihed in environmental and biological samples, and can bioaccumulate to toxic levels. LC-MS/MS has been widely used to study FAS contaminants in water, sediment and biological samples, and may confirm and extend more limited LC-MS studies. 

Most plant species appear to have a limited capacity to absorb fluorine, even from contaminated soils [237] and the fluorine content of uncontaminated plant material is normally low enough to make the development of fluorosis in livestock unlikely. A number of Australian grasses analysed by Harvey [238], some of which had been grown in areas irrigated by water substantially contaminated with fluoride, were found to contain fluorine levels restricted to the range 1 to... 

It is of interest that, with the exception of boron and fluorine, all the trace elements which are common industrial contaminants are present at concentrations below 12 ppb and that the levels of cadmium, lead and mercury, which are generally recognised as being specially hazardous environmental contaminants, are particularly low in sea-water. All living organisms must therefore have evolved originally in a situation where these elements could conveniently be excluded from biochemical systems. The low levels of these elements in the primeval hydrosphere is, therefore, probably a cause of their acute toxicity for all forms of animal life. Such is the present scale of industrial activity, that it is possible for the background concentrations of some trace elements (particularly those at the lowest concentration levels)... 

A chronic disease resulting from the accumulation of toxic levels of the mineral fluorine in the teeth and bones. It is a crippling disease characterized by bone overgrowth, brittle bones, stiff joints, weakness, weight loss, and anemia. Mottling of the teeth may occur if exposure occurred during the formation of enamel. Contaminated water and food are the principal sources of excessive fluoride. 

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