Trace Elements and Public Health

Abstract

Within the past decade, there has been a growing interest in the role of trace elements in human health and disease. Organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have published a succession of scholarly reports assessing the general issue of geochemistry and environmental health (48-50). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a regulatory framework for establishing acceptable exposure levels for a growing number of trace elements. Along with their regulatory framework, the EPA has also sponsored several recent conferences that have dealt in large part with defining more precisely ho� trace elements, especially in drinking water, affect human health (9). This review offers an assessment of selected trace elements with respect to their occurrence in the environment, human exposure, and possible health effects. The inclusion of specific trace elements is based largely on their presence or potential occurrence in drinking water. We recognize that other criteria may be used for selection of trace elements (80).