Abstract
A multielemental assay (i.e., of 23 elements) in kidney, liver, and lung tissue of autopsy specimens from deceased workers in a smeltery and refinery in North Sweden, as well as from a control group, is discussed in the light of possible health effects. The following topics have been surveyed: Brief history of the occupational exposure conditions; nuclear and other techniques used as tools in the multielemental assay; accumulation of the various elements in kidney, liver, and lung; estimation of retention times—long retention times were observed for antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, lanthanum, lead, or selenium in certain tissues, especially pronounced in the lung tissue; elevated levels of antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead, and lanthanum in lung tissue of exposed workers—a contribution to a multifactorial cause behind the excess mortality from lung cancer of the smeltery and refinery workers; and the protective effect of selenium on lung cancer of exposed workers.
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Brune, D., Gerhardsson, L., Nordberg, G. et al. Multielemental assay of autopsy tissues of smeltery and refinery workers pertinent to possible health effects. Biol Trace Elem Res 12, 145 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02796673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02796673