Metals and Disease: A Global Primary Health Care Perspective
Table 1
Sources of exposure to arsenic, lead and mercury.
General population
Occupational populations
Arsenic
(1) Air, drinking water, and food. Food is the predominant source. (2) Sawing and sanding, or burning of wood treated with arsenic-containing preservatives. Sawdust can be inhaled. (3) Arsenic also used in herbicides and as additives in animal feed.
(1) Workers involved in copper and lead smelting and wood treatment. (2) Workers who deal with arsenic-containing pesticides.
Lead
(1) Lead-contaminated food and water, and also dust and lead paint. (2) Through foods from improperly glazed pottery. (3) Herbal remedies may contain lead. (4) Hobbies that use lead: soldering, making stained glass, and firing ranges.
Workers engaged in industries: lead smelting, battery manufacture, steel welding, construction, printing, radiator repair shops, rubber production, firing ranges, and printing.
Mercury
(1) Dental amalgam fillings. (2) Practicing rituals that use mercury. (3) Damaged mercury-containing household items: thermometers, blood pressure devices, and fluorescent light bulbs. (4) Eating fish high in methyl-mercury. (5) Breathing contaminated air from hazardous waste sites that contain mercury. (6) Fungicides that contain mercury.
(1) Occupations in which there is a potential risk for mercury exposure—manufacture of electrical equipment, automotive parts that contain mercury, metal processing, and building parts and equipment that contain mercury (electrical switches, blood pressure devices). (2) Dentists and their assistants from breathing mercury vapor.
