Health Effeces of Chemical Toxicants and Effluents Determination of Trace Metals in Human Tissues and Project Title: Their Influence on Certain Diseases Publications: 13. RX-01-04 Preject not yet initiated. 14. Scope: A) 200 Word Summary: The generation of power by fossil fuels results in the release of not only vast amounts of carcinogenic hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen and sulfur but also trace metals dependent upon the origin of the coal or oil. The effluent industrial gases and liquid wastes introduce large amounts of a wide spectrum of metals, many of which may be toxic and some of which have been shown to be toxic in relatively small concentrations (arsenic, beryllium, titanium, fluorine, cadmium, barium, mercury, lead, vanadium, and bismuth). These elements are alien to the body and can cause various kinds of chronic degenerative conditions. Neither the degree of exposure nor the manner in waich the human body must become exposed for disease to develop are understood. The concentration of these materials in human tissues and food has not yet been adequately investigated. This study proposes to determine the concentration of these materials in human tissue obtained from individuals at all stages of life and in addition to begin studies of amnionic fluid, cord blood, fingernail and hair from live newborns and all tissues from stillborns. With the development of highly inbred strains of rats with innate dispositions to develop hypertension or to be resistant to hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia and ultimately atherosclerosis it is possible to , critically evaluate the role that is played by cadmitm or vanadium in the development of hypertension and atherosclerosis. B) Supplement to 200 Word Summary: Elements which are either normal constituents of tissue or essential to life may cause disease either by being scarce or in excess. are: chromium, manganese, iron, nickel, Such elements copper, zinc, and selenium. The concentration of these elements will be studied in tissue samples originating from human beings: displaying symptoms which are similar to those induced in animals by virtue of either excess or deficiency of the elements mentioned; of residents of areas in which industrial and agricultural conditions are such that one can easily suspect gross excesses or marked deficiency in a representative human population. The nutritional and toxicological work involving these metals in experimental animals is sufficiently extensive to permit lection of human populations for sampling. “technology that exists at Brookhaven for the study of metals is rvé. Chemical techniques and neutron activation analysis would be helpful in specific instances but inadequate for population surveys. X-ray fluorescence is capable of determining, simultaneously, all elements of atomic numbers greater than 15 present in sub-nanogram amounts of tissue. RARAF is ideally suited for the excitation of the characteristic x-ray fluorescence and with on-line computer analysis assays are quick and economical. (See Continuation Sheet) RX -96 ny b119253