How can nickel affect my health

Nickel alloys are used to make stainless steel, batteries, valves, heat exchangers, coins and jewelry. Nickel salts are used in plating. Other nickel compounds are used as catalysts that speed up the rate of chemical reactions in certain industrial processes. Workers can come into contact with nickel in a variety of ways.

When you breathe nickel dust, larger particles tend to stay in the nose, while smaller particles enter the lungs.

High strength structural steels that incorporate nickel are used throughout the automobile, aerospace and construction industries.

Virtually any heavy industry that manufactures mechanical devices uses structural or stainless steel at some point in the manufacturing process. Other non-ferrous alloys include nickel-copper alloys, typically containing about 65 percent nickel, and copper-nickel alloys, which generally contain about 10 percent nickel. Their uses include marine equipment and inorganic acid and alkali handling equipment.

Nickel-chromium alloys, containing 40 to 70 percent nickel, are used in corrosive chemical environments and high-temperature applications such as heating elements and jet engine parts and in stainless steel flatware and cooking utensils. Nickel-copper-zinc alloys commonly known as nickel-silver are used for decorative purposes, including jewelry, due to the fine polish they can achieve.

Nickel has been shown to be an essential trace element in several animal species and is likely to be essential in humans. However, there is no known condition in people that has been associated with nickel deficiency, and it is likely that we get all the nickel we need from its ubiquitous presence in food and water. Although pure nickel can readily react with other elements to form a variety of chemical compounds, most forms of nickel do not pose a threat to human health.

Human beings unknowingly ingest a daily average of micrograms of nickel, a tiny amount less than the mass of a single grain of sand. Trace amounts of nickel are present in the air we breathe, and in household products from faucets to shampoo. These amounts have no known effect on human or ecosystem health. Human bodies have evolved mechanisms for metabolizing — isolating and eliminating — small amounts of nickel.

Water-soluble forms of nickel inhaled as dust particles in the air dissolve into the bloodstream, and nickel also passes into the bloodstream through the skin after contact with nickel-containing products. Most of the nickel in the bloodstream is removed by the kidneys and passed out of the body through urine. Ingested nickel passes through the gastrointestinal tract but does not get absorbed. Larger doses of nickel, such as accidental ingestion, have been shown to have more adverse health effects ranging from stomach aches to heart failure.

However these effects occurred after exposure to levels 50, to , times greater than levels normally encountered in food or drinking water and are decidedly rare cases. The quantities encountered in these studies even exceed those found in solid nickel waste at hazardous waste sites. Other studies have shown that workers who inhale nickel dusts in metal processing and refining industries, and workers who inhale nickel-containing fumes from welding stainless steel, can have more serious health implications.

Research during the s showed early indications that nickel compounds such as nickel carbonyl could cause lung tumors in laboratory rats. Later studies conducted during the s by the United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA demonstrated that prolonged exposure to nickel refinery dust, nickel carbonyl or nickel subsulfide, all direct byproducts of nickel refining and metals processing, could cause cancer. This led to federal regulations limiting exposure to certain nickel compounds in the workplace and the environment.

If inhaled in certain forms and over a long enough period of time, nickel is indeed carcinogenic to human beings. Modern industrial hygiene practices have helped to curb these unfortunate nickel-induced health complications, by decreasing airborne levels of nickel dust in the workplace and by providing protective equipment that reduces exposure.

Fortunately for most people, such chronic exposure to nickel is rare. The most common nickel-related health problem that people experience is an allergic reaction that results from handling nickel-containing products on a frequent basis.

The proportion of the population that is genetically susceptible to allergic skin reactions to nickel 5 — 10 percent is similar for other metals. The most common malady experienced by people who come into contact with nickel is a skin rash called contact dermatitis. This condition can be caused by direct handling of nickel-containing objects common in most households. After nickel gets into your body, it can go to all organs, but it mainly goes to the kidneys.

The nickel that gets into your bloodstream leaves in the urine. After nickel is eaten, most of it leaves quickly in the feces, and the small amount that gets into your blood leaves in the urine.

How can families reduce the risk of exposure to nickel? For the whole family, it is better to eat food and drink water with no nickel, and keep away from the nickel industries and plants and similar places. Avoid wearing jewellery and some other items containing nickel.

Visit the doctor to check whether you, your children or other family members have been exposed to substantial amounts of nickel regularly. Refrain from smoking. Be careful when choosing the kitchen wares. What recommendations has the federal government made to protect human health? The federal government develops regulations and recommendations to protect public health.

Regulations can be enforced by law. Recommendations provide valuable guidelines to protect public health, but cannot be enforced by law. Regulations and recommendations can be expressed as "not-to-exceed" levels, that is, levels of a toxic substance in air, water, soil, or food that do not exceed a critical value that is usually based on levels that affect animals; they are then adjusted to levels that will help protect humans.

Sometimes these not-to-exceed levels differ among federal organizations because they use different exposure times an 8-hour working day or a hour day , different animal studies, or other factors. Recommendations and regulations are also updated periodically as more information becomes available.

For the most current information, check with the federal agency or organization that provides it. Some regulations and recommendations for nickel include the following: OSHA has set an enforceable limit of 1. EPA recommends that drinking water levels for nickel should not be more than 0.