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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM)
Chromium Toxicity
Sources of Chromium Exposure
The environmental and occupational sources of chromium exposure include the following:
- Airborne emissions from chemical plants and incineration facilities
- Effluents from chemical plants
- Contaminated landfill
- Cement dust
- Road dust from catalytic converter erosion and asbestos brake lining erosion
- Tobacco smoke
- Topsoil and rocks
- Welding of alloys or steel
- Leather tanning (soluble Cr [III])
- Chrome electroplating (soluble Cr [VI])
- Chrome alloy production
- Textile manufacturing
- Paints/pigments (insoluble Cr [VI])
- Photoengraving
- Copier servicing
- Antifreeze
- Antialgae agents
- Production of high-fidelity magnetic audio tapes
- Tattooing
- Wood preservatives
- Agricultural antifungicides
- Porcelain and ceramics manufacturing
- Glassmaking
On further questioning, the patient described in the case study relates that when he had reached several feet in depth while digging to repair the sewage system, he noticed an oozing from the ground of sometimes yellowish, sometimes greenish, water; this persisted throughout the several weeks of digging. The nearby pond, which is murky, also has a generally yellow tint, at times with small areas of greenish color. Suspecting an environmental link, you contact the local health department. Levels of chromium are found in the pond water that exceed corresponding health screening values, and the investigators inform you that the nearby plant is electroplating auto parts with chromium.
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Discuss all sources and pathways by which this patient might be exposed to chromium. |
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