Chemical contaminants in nonoccupationally exposed US residents

The manner in which chemical contaminants found in nonoccupationally exposed US residents enter the environment and subsequently human tissues is reviewed. Approximately 100 contaminants are treated. References used in the survey cover a 30-year period, with the bulk of the studies coming from the past 10 or 15 years. Contaminants discussed include organochlorine, organophosphorus, carbamate, and miscellaneous pesticides; polychlorinated and polybrominated bi- and terphenyls; halogen compounds; asbestos; mercury, lead, zinc, cadmium, copper, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, arsenic, antimony, thallium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, beryllium; and others. Production; use; entry into the environment; entry, metabolism, and effects in man; and description and evaluation of methods of analysis and of the validity of the data are the chief aspects treated. For the pesticides indiscriminate use is the chief means of environmental entry. Entry into man is by ingestion of particulate residues and through foods, particularly fat-containing animal products. Sources of environmental entry for the metals and other elements are burning of fossil fuels, industrial operations, dissipative uses, and natural inputs; and from these sources into man by ingestion and inhalation. Some elements are essential or beneficial at one level of concentration and toxic at another. Discussions of the status of elements from this more » standpoint are included where appropriate. « less