Heavy Metal Load Measurement
HEAVY METAL MEASUREMENTS
Heavy metal load measurements are an important OHS measurement parameter to determine how much workers are exposed to which heavy metals in the workplace.
Heavy metals are elements that can show toxic effects even at low concentrations. The use of heavy metals in industrial processes and products has increased rapidly in recent years, and accordingly, its effect on humans has reached dangerous values. We use so many products containing heavy metals in our daily lives that it does not seem possible to get rid of them for now. Mercury-amalgam dental fillings, leaded paint, tap water, food processes, chemical residues and personal care products (cosmetics, shampoo, hair products, mouthwash, toothpaste, soap, etc.) are just some of the products we use every day. In addition, people are exposed to heavy metals every day at home, outside and in many workplaces.
Diseases Caused by Some Heavy Metals:
Aluminum
Aluminum that causes nervous system disorders can come from kitchen utensils, drinking water, medicines and aluminum processing plants. Aluminum affects the lungs and the nervous system. Experience with hemodialysis has shown that aluminum damages the brain and causes Alzheimer's disease (high doses of aluminum hydroxide are given to dialysis patients). Chronic exposure can cause lung cancer and asthma.
Arsenic
Uses include metal separation, pesticides, herbicides, batteries, cables, shaft bearings. Transmission routes include spring water, milk powder, soy sauces, seafood (bioaccumulation) food additives and smoking. Arsenic is a potent carcinogen (carcinogenic) when inhaled and causes a high degree of damage to the intestines and liver.
Studies on the hair strands of Napoleon, the great commander of the French, have led to an interesting result and shed light on history. Napoleon's hair was placed in an aluminum cylinder and kept in a uranium reactor for several hours. The result was surprising. The amount of arsenic in the hair was 13 times the normal amount. What's more, the arsenic was introduced slowly, in small doses. In other words, Napoleon was poisoned by the constant addition of arsenic to his food.
Lead
Lead is a highly toxic heavy metal found throughout the environment and especially in urban air. In industry, it is mostly used in batteries, as a gasoline additive, in printing, as a radiation shielding agent, as a cable insulator, in paints, solder, foils and in countless alloys. It is estimated that an average city dweller scraps 20 kilograms of lead per year. Lead is not biodegradable. It cannot be converted into a nontoxic form.
Lead enters the body through respiration, drinking water and the food chain and reaches the lungs, where it is slowly absorbed into the bloodstream. It is first transported to soft tissues such as liver, kidney, brain and muscle via blood. After 35-40 days, it accumulates in hard tissues such as bones and teeth with the help of lead metabolites.
Lead causes hearing impairment, decrease in nerve conduction system and hemoglobin composition, anemia, stomach pain, kidney and brain inflammation, infertility, cancer and death. It causes cognitive and behavioral disorders, especially in children. Chronic exposure in childhood can lead to persistent obesity in adulthood. It has a half-life of 20 years, making it unlikely to be eliminated from the body.
Zinc
It participates in the structure of many alloys with other metals. It is used in the automotive industry, electrical equipment, toys, dental fillings, deodorants, batteries and welding. It is also used in galvanizing iron and similar metals to prevent corrosion. Chronic exposure can cause skin and lung diseases.
Mercury
It is used in thermometers, barometers, diffusion pumps and many other laboratory equipment. Mercury is also found in the structure of mercury vapor lamps and advertising lighting, mercury switches, some mixtures used in dentistry, protective paints, insecticides and batteries. Since mercury does not degrade in nature, mercury and mercury compounds are very dangerous and toxic to public and environmental health. Mercury entering the human body through drinking water or the food chain causes some neurological disorders, destruction of the central nervous system and cancer, destruction of kidney, liver and brain tissues, destruction of chromosomes and birth defects.
HOW CAN WE DETECT EXPOSURE TO HEAVY METALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT?
There are standards such as NIOSH, ASTM, EPA used to determine the effects of heavy metals in the working environment on workers.
Heavy metals are measured with devices such as UV SPECTROPHOTOMETER, ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETER, INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA.
The laboratory compares these measurement results with the limit values described in legal regulations and published national and international standards.
