Health hazard, nitrite

HEALTH HAZARDS OF NITRITE INHALANTS. Harry W. Haverkos,... 

Treatment of municipal water with chlorine and ammonia results in the formation of chloramines, a long-lasting disinfectant. Too much ammonia, however, enhances nitrification by bacteria in the water, which, in turn, increases the nitrate and nitrite levels. High nitrate and nitrite levels in drinking water is a health hazard, particularly for infants. 

Haverkos HW and Dougherty J (1988) Health hazards of nitrite inhalants. American Journal of Medicine 84 479-482. 

Features Low foaming aq. films dry to nontacky residues exc. tolerance for water hardness environmentally safe, does not contain boron, phosphates, chromates, nitrites, or metallic cations Reguiatory DOT nonregulated SARA 311/312 immediate health hazard, 313 nonreportable... 

Measuring nitrite in food and environmental samples is an important issue as this compound is a human health hazard and may even cause gastric cancer. The determination of nitrite using electrochemical methods offers simple, inexpensive, and faster analysis method compared to some other more expensive and time-consuming techniques such as chromatography or spectrophotometry. Electrochemical determination of nitrite is carried out by either reduction or oxidation methods. However,... 

Haverkos HW and Dougherty JA (eds.) (1988) Health Hazards of Nitrite Inhalants. NIDA Research Monograph 83. Rockville National Institute on Drug Abuse. 

Decreasing nitrite and nitrate incorporation into processed meat. However, to completely relinquish the use of nitrite is a great health hazard due to the danger from bacterial intoxication (especially by botulism). 

In general, nitrosamines arise only in very low concentrations. Since some of these compounds are a great health hazard, they should be detectable below 0.1 ppm in food for human consumption. The same procedures are available for identifying volatile nitrosamines which have been described earlier for the analysis of aroma constituents (cf. 5.2). However, precautions should be taken during the isolation step. Isolation of nitrosamines should not proceed at low pH since an acid medium in the presence of residual meat nitrites promotes further de novo synthesis of nitrosamines. Since the isolated fraction of neutral volatile confounds, which also includes nitrosamines, is highly conplex in composition, reliable nitrosamines identification by gas chromatographic retention data is not possible. Additional mass spectrometric data are needed to verify the chemical structure. 

B. Brominated nitropropanes/dioxanes are also commonly used to preserve APCs. They have a wide spectrum of activity and are very stable below 60°C and at acidic and neutral pH. Some of these should not be used in products at or above pH8 because of rapid decomposition into formaldehyde and nitrites if formulated in the presence of secondary or tertiary amines or amides, they could induce nitrosamine formation and could represent a health hazard to the consumer [17]. They are also incompatible with certain dyes. 

Engine Coolants. Inhibitors, such as NaCr04 (sodium chromate), borates and nitrites (NaN02) and mercaptabenzothia-zole are widely used for protection of automobile engines. Chromates are a health hazard. 

However, questions have been raised about the possible effects of these additives on human health. Nitrites, for example, appear to decrease the ability of a young child s blood to carry oxygen. In addition, nitrites combine with organic compounds known as amines to form a family of toxic compounds known as the nitrosoamines. These hazards have prompted some scientists and nonscientists alike to call for the ban of nitrates and nitrites as food additives. 

---