Manganese health effects

Exposure to neurotoxicants or neurotoxic chemical substances causes severe adverse health effects to the nervous system, which is very sensitive to organometallic compounds and sulfide compounds. These compounds disrupt the normal functioning of the central nervous system, peripheral nerves or sensory organs, and the conduction of nerve impulses. Thus, chemical substances are considered neurotoxicants when they induce a consistent pattern of neural dysfunction. The chemical substances include but are not limited to carbon disulfide, manganese, methyl mercury, organic phosphorous insecticides, tetraethyl lead, thallium, and trialkyl tin compounds. 

The Bangladesh standard for manganese in drinking water, based on its health effects, is 0.1 mg L" . Some 74% of groundwater samples collected in the NHS exceeded this value and 35% exceeded the provisional WHO guideline value of 0.5 mg L . ... 

Existing Information on Health Effects of Inorganic Manganese... 

Chapter 2 has more information on the health effects of manganese exposure in humans and animals. 

No studies were located regarding the following health effects in humans or animals after dermal exposure to inorganic manganese. 

No studies currently exist on the health effects arising in children as a result of exposure to organic manganese. Therefore, predictions concerning potential effects must be made from extrapolations from existing animal studies. 

Waalkes and Klaassen 1985). Data from a study by Goering and Klaassen (1985) suggest that manganese pretreatment increases the amount of Cd bound to metallothionine, thereby decreasing hepatotoxicity due to unbound Cd. The significance of these observations for health effects in humans exposed to cadmium and manganese by the oral or inhalation routes is not clear. 

FIGURE 2-8. Existing information on Health Effects of Organic Manganese — Maneb Mancozeb... 

A number of research projects are in progress investigating the health effects and the toxicokinetics of manganese. Projects sponsored by the federal government are summarized in Table 2-12. 

Section 104(I)(5) of CERCLA, as amended, directs the Administrator of ATSDR (in consultation with the Administrator of EPA and agencies and programs of the Public Health Service) to assess whether adequate information on the health effects of manganese is available. Where adequate information is not available, ATSDR, in conjunction with the NTP, is required to assure the initiation of a program of research designed to determine the health effects (and techniques for developing methods to determine such health effects) of manganese. 

Exposure Levels in Environmental Media. Reliable monitoring data for the levels of manganese in contaminated media at hazardous waste sites are needed so that the information obtained on levels of manganese in the environment can be used in combination with the known body burden of manganese to assess the potential risk of adverse health effects in populations living in the vicinity of hazardous waste sites. 

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