Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Duffus, J. H. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Chemical speciation terminology: chromium chemistry and cancer

The Edinburgh Centre for Toxicology, 43 Mansionhouse Road, Edinburgh EH9 2JD, UK

^* E-mail: j.h.duffus{at}blueyonder.co.uk

In classical toxicology, speciation of carbon is taken for granted and the carbon compounds responsible for toxicity are always described with the appropriate chemical nomenclature. By contrast, speciation of other elements is largely ignored and elements other than carbon are often condemned as toxic because of evidence relating toxicity to only a few of the chemical species in which they occur. In some cases, such as chromium, the distinction between oxidation states (chromium III and chromium VI) may be recognized as important. The fact that chromium VI may only be a toxicological problem in certain well defined forms, such as specific chromate salts that may cause nasal and lung cancer, and then only by the respiratory route of exposure, is largely ignored. Failure to consider properly chemical speciation of elements other than carbon can lead to poor use of our resources. Laws and regulations based on simple elemental analysis may wrongly condemn environmental media or products as toxic and prevent the use of important resources.

KEYWORDS: speciation, metal, toxicity, chromium, carcinogenicity

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Hudson-Edwards and M. E. Hodson Speciation and toxicity: introduction to a thematic set of papers arising out of a meeting held in London during 2004 Mineralogical Magazine, October 1, 2005; 69(5): 555 - 556. [Full Text] [PDF]