title: Exposure Potential and Health Impacts of Indium and Gallium, Metals Critical to Emerging Electronics and Energy Technologies.
abstract: The rapid growth of new electronics and energy technologies requires the use of rare elements of the periodic table. For many of these elements, little is known about their environmental behavior or human health impacts. This is true for indium and gallium, two technology critical elements. Increased environmental concentrations of both indium and gallium create the potential for increased environmental exposure, though little is known about the extent of this exposure. Evidence is mounting that indium and gallium can have substantial toxicity, including in occupational settings where indium lung disease has been recognized as a potentially fatal disease caused by the inhalation of indium particles. This paper aims to review the basic chemistry, changing environmental concentrations, potential for human exposure, and known health effects of indium and gallium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02215, USA. sjowhite@princeton.edu.|Department of Geosciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. sjowhite@princeton.edu.|Center for Environmental Health Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA. sjowhite@princeton.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah Jane O
authors.initials: SJO
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Shine
mesh_terms: D004581:Electronics; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005708:Gallium / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007204:Indium / Q000633:toxicity*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D007204:Indium; D005708:Gallium
keywords: E-waste; Environment; Indium lung disease; Occupational exposure; Semiconductor; Trace metals