271EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS
Almost daily one reads reports in the press about new
dangers found or suspected in foods, medicines and other
products. Public awareness of possible perils in everyday
products has increased greatly. Smoking, asbestos, toxic and
hazardous wastes (once called industrial wastes) are widely
discussed.
Problems resulting from technological advances are
being uncovered at an alarming rate. While it is possible to
predict, with some accuracy, benefits to be expected from
improvements and new approaches in applied science,
seldom have serious efforts been made to determine adverse
effects resulting from these. The general public is increas-
ingly aware of potential hazards from new products and
processes and the trend in industrialized countries is toward
greater control and regulation of hazardous undertakings.
The question as to the more effective approach, gentle per-
suasion to gain voluntary compliance or strong legislation
for strict regulation, has not been satisfactorily answered.
Probably there never will be agreement.
In the United States, the Office of Technology Assessment
was dissolved. The stated reason was that this Office did long-
term studies which were not immediately useful to a legisla-
tor. In remarks at the Conference on Technical Expertise and
Public Decisions at Princeton University, the then Chairman
of the House Science Committee said that it was more desir-
able to depend on the views of those most interested in the
topic—the lobbyists.
The relationship among the air, water, and soil is not
a static one. Effects of a pollutant may be demonstrated
progressively in the various compartments into which
the environment is divided. A substance may be initially
present, without apparent ill effects, in one compartment.
Later, the same substance, or a demonstrable derivative,
may appear in a different part of the environment in a most
undesirable way. An excellent example is the high mercury
level found in fish. Initially, it was felt that disposal into the
marine environment would conveniently remove a bother-
some waste. However, by previously unsuspected paths the
metal found its way into the systems of game and food fish.
Food, thus, has become a secondary distributor of pollutant
material.
Chemical pollutants may be divided into four categories:1) Natural chemicals in excess.
2) Naturally occurring toxins.3) Mixtures of air and water pollutants which produce
adverse effects but with only partially defined or
undefined components.
4) Synthetic chemicals.The first group includes chemicals such as nitrates and
nitrites. Nitrates, for example, can cause methemoglobinemia
in infants by reduction of the capacity of the blood to carry
oxygen. An intermediate reduction is involved. A famous
case in New York involved accidental introduction of sodium
nitrite into oatmeal and the resulting problems of “Eleven Blue
Men.” The victims, all heavy users of alcohol, apparently tried
instinctively to compensate for low salt in the body. Through an
accident, sodium nitrite instead of sodium chloride, was placed
in salt shakers in a public eating place. The eleven victims all
became cyanotic, with the characteristic blue color giving the
name to the episode. Nitrites may also react with secondary
amines to form nitrosamines, some of the which have been
shown to be carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic, all in
microgram doses. Oxides of nitrogen, thought to be significant
in smog production, can also form nitrosamines.
The second group, natural fungal and plant toxins, usu-
ally are introduced into the human ecosystem through acci-
dent or carelessness. Conditions of harvesting, storage, and
processing have been shown to be of possible importance.
An excellent example of the third group has already been
mentioned. Mercury was discharged to the receiving water
as an apparent ultimate solution to a waste disposal problem.
The two components of the system, mercury and water, were
assumed to be non-reactive. Unfortunately, the two-component
system was, in fact, a multicomponent system and no endeavor
was made to determine the complete mechanism. The prob-
lem was further complicated by the introduction of edible
fish into the chain.
Minimata Disease is named for the city in which it
occurred. Inorganic mercury was discharged in the effluent
of a local industrial plant. Through action of marine organ-
isms, the mercury was converted to lipid-soluble methyl
mercury, which was taken up in the food chain to fish, the
staple of the local diet. 43 deaths and about 700 serious ill-
nesses were acknowledged by local authorities in the 1950s.
Some unofficial estimates have put the death toll as high
as 800. In 1989 two former company officials were given
prison sentences for the 1950s pollution. Lawsuits resulting
from the pollution were finally settled in 1996.C005_004_r03.indd 271C005_004_r03.indd 271 11/18/2005 10:21:37 AM11/18/2005 10:21:37 AM