Documents\Palladium-contents. Pdf

EHC 226: Palladium
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10. EVALUATION OF HUMAN HEALTH RISKS AND EFFECTS ON
THE ENVIRONMENT
138
10.1
Evaluation of human health risks
138
10.1.1
Exposure levels
138
10.1.1.1 General population exposure
138
10.1.1.2 Occupational exposure
139
10.1.2
Fate in the body
140
10.1.3
Health hazards
140
10.1.4
Dose–response relationships
141
10.1.5
Health-based guidance value
142
10.2
Evaluation of effects on the environment
142
10.2.1
Exposure levels
142
10.2.2
Persistence, fate and transport
143
10.2.3
Toxicity and dose–effect/response 
relationships
143
10.2.4
Guidance value
144
11. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
PROTECTION OF HUMAN HEALTH AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
145
11.1
Dental health
145
11.2
Occupational health
145
11.3
Analysis
146
11.4
Environment
146
12. FURTHER RESEARCH
147
13. PREVIOUS EVALUATIONS BY INTERNATIONAL BODIES
148
REFERENCES
149
RESUME
173
RESUMEN
188

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NOTE TO READERS OF THE CRITERIA MONOGRAPHS
Every  effort  has  been  made  to  present  information  in  the  criteria
monographs as accurately as possible without unduly delaying their
publication. In the interest of all users of the Environmental Health Criteria
monographs, readers are requested to communicate any errors that may have
occurred to the Director of the International Programme on Chemical Safety,
World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, in order that they may be
included in corrigenda.
*    *    *
A detailed data profile and a legal file can be obtained from the
International Register of Potentially Toxic Chemicals, Case postale 356, 1219
Châtelaine, Geneva, Switzerland (telephone no. + 41 22 – 9799111, fax no. +
41 22 – 7973460, E-mail [e-mail]).
*    *    *
This publication was made possible by grant number 5 U01 ES02617-15
from  the  National  Institute  of  Environmental Health Sciences, National
Institutes   of  Health,  USA,  and  by  financial  support   from  the  Federalö
Ministry  for the Environment, Nature conservation and Nuclear Safety,
Germany.

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Environmental Health Criteria
P R E A M B L E
Objectives
In  1973,  the  WHO  Environmental  Health  Criteria Programme was
initiated with the following objectives:
(i)
to  assess  information on the relationship between exposure to
environmental pollutants and human health, and to provide guidelines for
setting exposure limits;
(ii)
to identify new or potential pollutants;
(iii)
to identify gaps in knowledge concerning the health effects of pollutants;
(iv)
to  promote  the  harmonization  of  toxicological and epidemiological
methods in order to have internationally comparable results.
The first Environmental Health Criteria (EHC) monograph, on mercury,
was  published  in  1976,  and  since  that  time an ever-increasing number of
assessments  of  chemicals  and  of  physical  effects  have  been  produced.  In
addition, many EHC monographs have been devoted to evaluating toxicological
methodology, e.g., for genetic, neurotoxic, teratogenic and nephrotoxic effects.
Other  publications  have  been  concerned  with  epidemiological  guidelines,
evaluation  of  short-term tests for carcinogens, biomarkers, effects on the
elderly and so forth.
Since its inauguration, the EHC Programme has widened its scope, and
the importance of environmental effects, in addition to health effects, has been
increasingly emphasized in the total evaluation of chemicals.
The  original  impetus  for  the  Programme  came  from  World  Health
Assembly resolutions and the recommendations of the 1972 UN Conference
on the Human Environment. Subsequently, the work became an integral part
of the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), a cooperative 

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programme of UNEP, ILO and WHO. In this manner, with the strong support
of the new partners, the importance of occupational health and environmental
effects  was  fully  recognized.  The  EH C  monographs  have  become  widely
established, used and recognized throughout the world.
The recommendations of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and
Development  and  the subsequent establishment of the Intergovernmental
Forum on Chemical Safety with the priorities for action in the six programme
areas of Chapter 19, Agenda 21, all lend further weight to the need for EHC
assessments of the risks of chemicals.
Scope
The criteria monographs are intended to provide critical reviews on the
effects on human health and the environment of chemicals and of combinations
of chemicals and physical and biological agents. As such, they include and
review studies that are of direct relevance for the evaluation. However, they
do not describe every study  carried out. Worldwide data are used and are
quoted from original studies, not from abstracts or reviews. Both published
and unpublished reports are considered, and it is incumbent on the authors to
assess all the articles cited in the references. Preference is always given to
published data. Unpublished data are used only when relevant published data
are absent or when they are pivotal to the risk assessment. A detailed policy
statement  is  available  that  describes  the  procedures  used  for  unpublished
proprietary  data so that this information can be used in the evaluation without
compromising its confidential nature (WHO (1999) Revised Guidelines for the
Preparation of Environmental Health Criteria Monographs. PCS/99.9, Geneva,
World Health Organization).
In the evaluation of human health risks, sound human data, whenever
available, are preferred to animal data. Animal and  in vitro studies provide
support and are used mainly to supply  evidence missing from human studies.
It is mandatory that research on human subjects is conducted in full accord
with ethical principles, including the provisions of the Helsinki Declaration.

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