| Smelting and microelectronics industries; wood preservatives, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides; contaminant of deep-water wells; folk remedies; and coal; incineration of these products. | Organic arsenic (arsenobetaine, arsenocholine) is ingested in seafood and fish, but is nontoxic; inorganic arsenic is readily absorbed (lung and GI); sequesters in liver, spleen, kidneys, lungs, and GI tract; residues persist in skin, hair, and nails; biomethylation results in detoxification, but this process saturates. | Acute arsenic poisoning results in necrosis of intestinal mucosa with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis, fluid loss, hypotension, delayed cardiomyopathy, acute tubular necrosis, and hemolysis. Chronic arsenic exposure causes diabetes, vasospasm, peripheral vascular insufficiency and gangrene, peripheral neuropathy, and cancer of skin, lung, liver (angiosarcoma), bladder, and kidney. Lethal dose: 120–200 mg (adults); 2 mg/kg (children). | Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, delirium, coma, seizures; garlicky odor on breath; hyperkeratosis, hyperpigmentation, exfoliative dermatitis, and Mees’ lines (transverse white striae of the fingernails); sensory and motor polyneuritis, distal weakness. Radiopaque sign on abdominal x-ray; ECG–QRS broadening, QT prolongation, ST depression, T-wave flattening; 24-h urinary arsenic >67 μmol/d or 50 μg/d; (no seafood × 24 h); if recent exposure, serum arsenic >0.9 μmol/L (7 μg/dL). High arsenic in hair or nails. | If acute ingestion, ipecac to induce vomiting, gastric lavage, activated charcoal with a cathartic. Supportive care in ICU. Dimercaprol 3–5 mg/kg IM q4h × 2 days; q6h × 1 day, then q12h × 10 days; alternative: oral succimer. |
| Metal-plating, pigment, smelting, battery, and plastics industries; tobacco; incineration of these products; ingestion of food that concentrates cadmium (grains, cereals). | Absorbed through ingestion or inhalation; bound by metallothionein, filtered at the glomerulus, but reabsorbed by proximal tubules (thus, poorly excreted). Biologic half-life: 10–30 y. Binds cellular sulfhydryl groups, competes with zinc, calcium for binding sites. Concentrates in liver and kidneys. | Acute cadmium inhalation causes pneumonitis after 4–24 h; acute ingestion causes gastroenteritis. Chronic exposure causes anosmia, yellowing of teeth, emphysema, minor LFT elevations, microcytic hypochromic anemia unresponsive to iron therapy, proteinuria, increased urinary β2-microglobulin, calciuria, leading to chronic renal failure, osteomalacia, and fractures. Possible risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. | With inhalation: pleuritic chest pain, dyspnea, cyanosis, fever, tachycardia, nausea, noncardiogenic ... |