Occupational health and safety concepts. Chemical and processing hazards

Reviews of recent publications--Fd and wildlife. aquatic biota, terrestrial microbiota and vegetation are also covered. In man, apart from occasional episodes of lead poisoning, particularly in young children. acute exposure is a diminishing problem. The greatest concern at present is the possibility that continuous exposure to low levels may result in adverse health effects. Does subtle CNS impairment occur before effects are observed in the haemopoietic system? Questions such as this are examined in chapters on the human health effects of lead and on the metabolism and subclinical effects of lead in children. One inevitable criticism can be aimed at this collation of information. As with any other intensively researched subject, the information is soon out of date. Nevertheless, the publication should prove to be extremely useful, and the editor does point out that the exercise has produced a sketch rather than a true portrait. We can look forward to the other proposed publications in this series. Neurotoxicology. Vol. 1. Edited by L. Roizin, H. Shiraki and N. GrrcEevic. Raven Press, New York, 1977. pp. xxviii + 658. $66.00. The editors of this volume have presented a series of review articles on a wide range of chemicals specifically associated with adverse effects on the central and peripheral nervous system. The compounds selected for discussion represent important groups of chemicals. Many are pharmacologically active, exerting a tranquillizing, narcotic, anaesthetic, stimulant, antidepressant or hallucinogenic effect on the central nervous system. Others are important industrial chemicals, and some of these, including some pesticides, lead compounds and organomercurials, are also major environmental contaminants. A third important group comprises the antimicrobial agents, including such important substances as chloroquine, nitrofurantoin, clioquinol and hexachlorophene. An honest attempt has been made to make the coverage as complete as possible. Each chapter is liberally supplied with references, and there are numerous diagrams and electronmicrographs. Attention has been paid primarily to neurotoxic effects in man, but animal work receives serious consideration as well. It is interesting to note that in many cases the neuropathological manifestations in animals differ significantly from those of human disease. This situation differs from that in other organs, such as the liver and kidney, in which the changes found in man often resemble very closely those encountered in animals. Despite these differences, animal models of chemical neurotoxicity have contributed to the understanding of neurotoxicity in man, and several examples of such contributions can be found in this book. The introduction, by Leon Roizin, is well worth reading. It contains a brief historical sketch of the post-war growth of drug use and abuse, relating this and the technological advance of the chemical industry to the growing need for more understanding of the adverse actions of drugs on the central nervous system in man. The difficulties of acquiring such understanding are formidable, and Dr. Roizin has

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attempted to place in perspective the reasons for using animals in toxicological and pharmacological research and the value of such studies both in promoting the understanding of adverse drug reactions and in assessing hazard. In particular he stresses the value of facts established by valid experimentation of this sort, setting the scene with a quotation from Rudolph Virchow: “The recognition of the authority of the fact, the justification of the particular and the rule of the law”. Occupational Health and Safety Concepts. Chemical and Processing Hazards. G. R. C. Atherley. Applied Science Publishers Ltd., London, 1978. pp. xii + 408. f25.00. Although expertise in toxicology is becoming a very saleable commodity, there is still a need for good introductory texts in many aspects of the science. The present volume, based on an Aston University course on Occupational Health and Safety, should fill at least one of the gaps in the bookshelf of the toxicological novice with no formal biological or medical training. Essentially the book consists of two parts, the one concerned with science skates over the pertinent areas of physiology, biochemistry, immunology and pathology, whilst the other introduces the legislative and social aspects of occupational health through a series of case histories. The text is supported by a large number of well-chosen figures and illustrations. Professor Atherley has attempted, largely successfully, to provide a basic foundation in industrial toxicology that will facilitate and encourage further study. To provide even a grounding in such a diverse subject in about 400 pages is obviously a difficult task, but it is only on rare occasions that the need for brevity leads to an unsatisfactory end product. The major reservation about the book concerns its price; f25 is a lot to ask for a student text. Other specific criticisms are minor-an irregular and sometimes confusing subdivision of chapters and the introduction of an unnecessary and largely unhelpful “input-output model” in a discussion of a number of general points certainly do not outweigh the book’s general virtues. In summary, then, this is. a text to be recommended for the thrifty individual embarking on a study of industrial hygiene. Report of the Government Chemist 1977. Department of Industry: Laboratory of The Government Chemist. HMSO, London, 1978. pp. iv + 173. f3.00. Investigations into possible consumer hazards formed an interesting part of the Laboratory’s work during 1977. As chromate is frequently used to prime non-stick cooking ware before it is coated with PTFE. a study of the chromium content of water boiled for an hour in such utensils was undertaken. In some cases hexavalent chromium was found at levels up to 1 mg/litre, but DHSS toxicologists advised that this would not present a hazard. The leaching of lead and cadmium from ceramic ware was also examined, but all results were well within proposed EEC limits.