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Metals in the environment
The Science o f the Total Environment, 20 (1981) 287 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands
287
B o o k review
Metals in the Environment, edited by H. A. Waldron, Academic Press, London, 1980, 333 pp., ISBN 0.12.731850.X. Price: £22.40/$52.00. This book attempts to assess the impact of the use of the more important metals on the environment and on those who are exposed to them. It is a compilation by ten authors, one of whom also edited the book. The contributors generally appear to be medically trained or oriented and consequently the work is a valuable summary of effects of metals on human health from both a deficiency and toxicity viewpoint; overall, the treatment of environmental pathways is weaker. The elements reviewed are the metals Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Mg, Pb, Mn, Ni, V and the metalloid, As. The most significant omission is the lack of any t r e a t m e n t of copper and zinc which are c o m m o n pollutants from urban and industrial activities and y e t are essential nutrients. The chapters on cobalt, lead and mercury are particularly useful because of their comprehensive nature. The t r e a t m e n t of arsenic would have been improved by the inclusion of a little more basic chemistry to help the nonchemically trained reader since As(III) and As(V) provide such good examples of the importance of speciation in the biological implications of trace elements. The review of cadmium contains some very helpful tables comparing the element with the other c o m m o n pollutants, lead, copper and zinc. The t r e a t m e n t of manganese is probably the weakest in the book since it is confined almost entirely to nutritional, biochemical and health aspects with only a trivial account of anything else. In summary, this is a useful volume which will appeal especially to environmental scientists who are involved in or interested in the implications of environmental biogeochemistry for human health and is well worth purchasing for a personal library.
Aberystwyth (United Kingdom)
0048-9697/81/0000-0000/$02.50
Brian E. Davies
© 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company
287
B o o k review
Metals in the Environment, edited by H. A. Waldron, Academic Press, London, 1980, 333 pp., ISBN 0.12.731850.X. Price: £22.40/$52.00. This book attempts to assess the impact of the use of the more important metals on the environment and on those who are exposed to them. It is a compilation by ten authors, one of whom also edited the book. The contributors generally appear to be medically trained or oriented and consequently the work is a valuable summary of effects of metals on human health from both a deficiency and toxicity viewpoint; overall, the treatment of environmental pathways is weaker. The elements reviewed are the metals Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Mg, Pb, Mn, Ni, V and the metalloid, As. The most significant omission is the lack of any t r e a t m e n t of copper and zinc which are c o m m o n pollutants from urban and industrial activities and y e t are essential nutrients. The chapters on cobalt, lead and mercury are particularly useful because of their comprehensive nature. The t r e a t m e n t of arsenic would have been improved by the inclusion of a little more basic chemistry to help the nonchemically trained reader since As(III) and As(V) provide such good examples of the importance of speciation in the biological implications of trace elements. The review of cadmium contains some very helpful tables comparing the element with the other c o m m o n pollutants, lead, copper and zinc. The t r e a t m e n t of manganese is probably the weakest in the book since it is confined almost entirely to nutritional, biochemical and health aspects with only a trivial account of anything else. In summary, this is a useful volume which will appeal especially to environmental scientists who are involved in or interested in the implications of environmental biogeochemistry for human health and is well worth purchasing for a personal library.
Aberystwyth (United Kingdom)
0048-9697/81/0000-0000/$02.50
Brian E. Davies
© 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company