• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.257-267
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• 2012

Occupational neurotoxic diseases have become increasingly common in Taiwan due to industrialization. Over the past 40 years, Taiwan has transformed from an agricultural society to an industrial society. The most common neurotoxic diseases also changed from organophosphate poisoning to heavy metal intoxication, and then to organic solvent and semiconductor agent poisoning. The nervous system is particularly vulnerable to toxic agents because of its high metabolic rate. Neurological manifestations may be transient or permanent, and may range from cognitive dysfunction, cerebellar ataxia, Parkinsonism, sensorimotor neuropathy and autonomic dysfunction to neuromuscular junction disorders. This study attempts to provide a review of the major outbreaks of occupational neurotoxins from 1968 to 2012. A total of 16 occupational neurotoxins, including organophosphates, toxic gases, heavy metals, organic solvents, and other toxic chemicals, were reviewed. Peer-reviewed articles related to the electrophysiology, neuroimaging, treatment and long-term follow up of these neurotoxic diseases were also obtained. The heavy metals involved consisted of lead, manganese, organic tin, mercury, arsenic, and thallium. The organic solvents included n-hexane, toluene, mixed solvents and carbon disulfide. Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide were also included, along with toxic chemicals including polychlorinated biphenyls, tetramethylammonium hydroxide, organophosphates, and dimethylamine borane. In addition we attempted to correlate these events to the timeline of industrial development in Taiwan. By researching this topic, the hope is that it may help other developing countries to improve industrial hygiene and promote occupational safety and health care during the process of industrialization.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.12-17
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• 2013

Heavy metal contamination of soil and water from industrial sources remains a worldwide environmental concern. Concentrations of toxic metals were measured in soil from banks of the Han and Anyang rivers. Pre-monsoon samples contained the highest heavy metal concentrations (Cu > As > Pb > Cd > $Cr^{6+}$; up to 57.80, 38.23, 25.43, 2.21, 0.32 mg/kg, respectively), but concentrations decreased at all sites during the monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Higher heavy metal concentrations in pre-monsoon samples may be attributed to dust pollution, especially from roads near the river. A gradual reduction in heavy metal concentrations during the rainy season may be due to washing out. The high concentration of metals could cause health problems, especially in residential areas.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.171-177
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• 2012

This research investigates how using algae as an ecotoxicological test species is easier than using daphnia for identifying toxic causative substances. From the results of the ecotoxicity measurements on the Shihwa lake and its tributaries, heavy metals were considered as one of major factors in causing toxicity. The algae ecotoxicity value was 9.6 while the daphnia ecotoxicity value was 0.8 in the Jeongwang stream. By using algae as the test species, we could identify the toxicity that causes heavy metals which might otherwise have been missed with only daphnia. The results from the EDTA addition test showed that zinc and copper were the main toxic causative substances in the Jeongwang stream and Gunja stream.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.397-409
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• 2004

There has been few studies of either domestic or international to apply CCT-ICP-MS for the precise analysis of As and Cr components associated with airborne particulate matter. To date, the use of CCT-ICP-MS is strongly recommended for the accurate analysis of the toxic trace metals; this is because CCT-ICP-MS technique prevents polyatomic spectral interferences involved in the determination of As and/or Cr components. Taking advantage of CCT-ICP-MS technique, the measurements of about 20 metals were undertaken in this study. The standard reference material (NIST SRM 2783) was used for analytical quality control. To improve analytical accuracy and of acid efficiency, we selected nitric acid based on a test of three kinds of acid for microwave digestion method 1 ) nitric acid. 2) nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide. and 3) nitric acid and perchloric acid. When this method was employed, relative errors to SRM values of Al, As, Cr Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, Sb, V, and Zn fell below 20%, while those or Ca, Si, and Ti were higher than 20%. The overall results of our study show that the concentrations of As and V determined by CCT-ICP-MS were satisfied with the certificated values within a relative error of 20e1c, whereas those determined by ICP-MS were 10 times higher than the certificated values.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: Metal mines were actively developed in the early twentieth century in Korea; however, most of these mines were closed and abandoned without proper management. Therefore, toxic metal contamination in the vicinity of Korean abandoned metal mines has been reported. A risk assessment for these metals was performed for residents near by abandoned Sanyang metal mine. METHODS AND RESULTS: Soil and groundwater samples were collected from May to October 2007 around the mine. After pretreatment of these samples, metal concentrations were measured and then a risk assessment was performed using the Korean soil-contamination risk assessment guidelines. Cancer risk was the highest from inhalation of Pb-contaminated soil, followed in descending order by As-contaminated soil inhalation and water ingestion. The sum of carcinogenic risks was $3.35{\times}10^{-3}$. The noncarcinogenic risk was observed for inhalation of Hg-contaminated soil (5.71). CONCLUSION: Inhalation of soil in dust was the principal pathway to cause the health risk and most of the risk was attributed to As, Pb,Cd, and Hg contamination.

• CELLMED
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.3.1-3.4
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• 2016

Consumption of herbal products from the medicinal plants contaminated with heavy metals can cause serious consequences on human health. This is a major concern for traditional and herbal medicine. The present study was carried out to analyze and quantify the levels of six potentially toxic heavy metals namely arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and nickel in ten important Indian medicinal herbs. The air dried raw herbs were processed by microwave assisted wet digestion and analyzed by using atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with graphite tube atomizer. Except the chromium content in three plants, all the levels of six heavy metals analyzed were found to be quite below the permissible limits in all the ten raw medicinal herbs analyzed. The present work implies that, regular and systematic screening of raw medicinal herbs is necessary to check the levels of the heavy metal contaminants before using them for consumption or preparation of herbal formulations so that the possible contamination cannot cumulate up to the finished products.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.145-146
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• 1999

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.7-10
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• 2005

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 1997

Phytoremediation, using plants to remediate toxic organic and inorganic pollutants in contaminated soils, is an emerging technology for environmental cleanup. Three strategies of this technology are applicable to the remediation of toxic heavy metals, radionuclides, and toxic organic pollutants: They are (1) phytoextraction, in which plants anumulate the contaminants and are harvested for the downstream processing; (2) phytodegradation, in which plant-released enzymes or plant-associated microorganisms convert toxic pollutants into non-toxic materials; and (3) phytostabilization, in which toxic pollutants are precipitated from solution or absorbed in either the plant tissue or the soil matrix. Phytoremediation is more effective and less expensive than other current treatment technologies.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.98-105
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• 1997

The study on the cytotoxicity of heavy metals was carried out to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of those on mouse L929 fibroblast cell in 96-well microtiter plates. The cytotoxicity was assayed by the neutral red, tetrazolium MTT, total protein, micronuclei test. The cytotoxicity of the heavy metals by neutral red and tetrazolium MTT was showed in order, cadmium > zinc > nickel for the cationic metals tested. The effect of metal-metal interaction on the cytotoxicity showed a marked reduction of cadmium toxicity by zinc, to a lesser degree, by nickel. The amount of total protein in treated group added heavy metals was less than that of the control and treated cadmium alone was less than those of combination with nickel or zinc. At midpoint cytotoxicity values of heavy metals, the frequency of micronuclei on the cell treated heavy metals was more than that of control and treated cadmium alone was more than those of combination with nickel or zinc. From those results, it could be suggested that the heavy metals decreased the viability of mouse fibroblast L929 cells in a concentration-dependent manner and have cytogenic toxic effects, but mixed group decreased the cytotoxic and cytogenic toxicity on L929 cells.