title: Exposure to metals that have recently come into use.
abstract: The possibility of deriving normal biological values for some rare metals is investigated. The metals under study are gallium, germanium, indium, niobium and tellurium, i.e. a group of metals with increasing utilization in the electronics industry. So far some data are unavailable for some of the elements, e.g. daily intake, oral absorption and half-life time for gallium, and body burden for gallium and germanium. Reliable values of blood concentration are available only for gallium, niobium and tellurium. The problem related to a proposed urinary biological limit value for tellurium is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traumatology Orthopaedy and Occupational Health, Turin University, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scansetti
mesh_terms: D001682:Biological Availability; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005708:Gallium / Q000378:metabolism; D005857:Germanium / Q000378:metabolism; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D007204:Indium / Q000378:metabolism; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D009556:Niobium / Q000378:metabolism; D012016:Reference Values; D013691:Tellurium / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D005857:Germanium; D007204:Indium; D009556:Niobium; D005708:Gallium; D013691:Tellurium