Health evaluation of heavy metals in infant formula and junior food : [proceedings of the Symposium on the Health Evaluation of Heavy Metals in Infant Formula and Junior Food, Berlin, November 4-6, 1981

The ~uestion of whether an infant's diet represents a health hazard is not new. A health risk to infants from the intake of heavy metals via bottled food cannot be excluded at the present time. It is the purpose of this symposium to increase our knowledge of these disquie­ ting facts. If 70% of all environmental chemicals, including the ubi­ quituous heavy metals, enter the human body through food, to what extent are infants affected? Generally speaking, the effect on children has thus far been ex­ cluded from all the discussions concerning safety margins or limits on heavy-metal intake. Furthermore, this age group has also been largely excluded from studies determining the acceptable daily intake values for other substances. Paradoxically enough, such studies often contain a comment to the effect that children are particularly sensitive to these substances. The lack of consideration is certainly also due to the fact that little attention has been paid to this age group in toxicological research. The ZEBS study Heavy Metals in the Infant Diet by Kaferstein and MUller points to a mechanism which may increase the contamination of infant diet, namely the water used to prepare infant formula. Such facts as well as models for risk characterization have been presented by MUller and Schmidt in these proceedings. Yet many questions remain. Front Matter....Pages I-XV Heavy Metals in the Infant Diet....Pages 1-12 Quantification in Food Regulatory Toxicology....Pages 13-19 U.S. Food and Drug Administration Regulatory Strategies for Lead in Foods: Past, Present, and Future....Pages 20-25 Impact of Infant Growth and Physiology on Heavy Metal Toxicity....Pages 26-33 Impact of Dietary Components and Nutritional Status of Infants on the Toxicity of Heavy Metals....Pages 34-40 The Importance of Trace Elements During the Years of Growth....Pages 41-46 Essentiality and Toxicity of Heavy Metals....Pages 47-56 The Toxicity of Heavy Metals in the Pregnant Woman, Fetus and Newborn Infant....Pages 57-68 Absorption of Lead by Infants and Young Children....Pages 69-85 Nutritional and Maturational Factors Modifying the Absorption of Inorganic Lead from the Gastrointestinal Tract....Pages 86-91 On the Evidence for the Hypothesis of Lead Induced Disturbances of Neuropsychological Development....Pages 92-98 The Absorption of Heavy Metals by the Growing Organism; Experimental Experience with Animals....Pages 99-104 Metallothionein and Its Relationship to the Toxicity of Cadmium and Other Metals in the Young....Pages 105-111 Recent Animal Studies with Regard to Cadmium Toxicity....Pages 112-119 Toxicokinetics of Cadmium and Models for the Calculation of the Cadmium Load....Pages 120-125 The Effects of Cadmium in the Human Organism....Pages 126-139 The Toxicology of Mercury and Methyl Mercury....Pages 140-146 The Toxicokinetics of Mercury....Pages 147-160 Clinical Manifestations and Dose Dependency of Acute and Chronic Methylmercury Intoxication....Pages 161-167 Special Contribution on Lead Contamination in Glasgow....Pages 168-169 Summary of the Session....Pages 171-177 Final Discussions....Pages 178-189 Back Matter....Pages 191-192 Proceedings of the Symposium on the Health Evaluation of Heavy Metals In Infant Formula and Junior Food, Berlin, November 4-6, 1981