Thallium in the Environment (Advances in Environmental Science and Technology)

Since its discovery in 1861, thallium has been used in a variety of industrial products, from rat and ant poisons to photocells and infrared devices. But today, the increased use of thallium for emerging technologies in electronics, medicine, and other fields has also led to rising concerns about the health risks and environmental effects of this highly toxic element.

Thallium in the Environment offers completely up-to-date coverage of the environmental cycle as well as the chemical and toxicological aspects of thallium exposure. Written by an international panel of experts, the book addresses key issues concerning thallium's effects on aquatic and terrestrial environments, human health, and wildlife.

In addition to thallium's history, production, and use, specific topics include thallium sampling and analysis, transport, reproductive and developmental toxicity, speciation, and geochemistry.

Bringing together the latest information on these areas in a single volume, this book makes a vital contribution in the quest to understand and track the potential risks of thallium in the environment. It will be welcomed by professionals and students working in environmental science, chemistry, and engineering, as well as toxicology, public health, environmental control, and other areas.

The very latest information on thallium compiled in a single volume --an ideal resource for professionals and students...

Thallium in the Environment brings together the contributions of leading experts on the chemical and toxicological aspects of thallium exposure and its effects on aquatic and terrestrial environments, human health, and wildlife.

Coverage focuses on these topics:
* History, production, and uses of thallium
* Aqueous geochemistry of thallium
* Speciation of thallium in natural waters
* Thallium in the subsurface environment: its mobility in terms of Eh and pH
* Thallium in agricultural practice
* Determination of thallium by electroanalytical techniques
* Analysis of thallium in biological samples
* Human thallium toxicity
* Reproductive and developmental toxicity of thallium
* Age-dependent differences in the nephrotoxicity of thallium (I) sulfate in rats
* Thallium transport in cellular membranes
* Effect of thallium toxicity on the visual system

JEROME O. NRIAGU is Professor in the Department of Environmental and Industrial Health, School of Public Health, the University of Michigan, and an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo. For many years he was a research scientist with the National Water Research Institute, Burlington, Ontario. He is the editor of the Wiley Series in Advances in Environmental Science and Technology and has edited, among many other volumes, Gaseous Pollutants, Nickel and Human Health, and Arsenic in the Environment.

Dr. Nriagu received BSc and DSc degrees from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, an MS from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a PhD in geochemistry from the University of Toronto. He has published extensively in leading geochemical and environmental science journals and has received a number of awards for his work. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.