Animal Feed Science and Technology 200 (2015) 118–119

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Animal Feed Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anifeedsci

Book review

Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals, G.F. Nordberg, B.A. Fowler, M. Nordberg (Eds.), Fourth ed., Volume I: GeneralConsiderations, Volume II: Specific Metals Academic Press as an imprint of Elsevier, Amsterdam (2015). 1385 pp.,Hardcover, Price: 358.93 USD; 290.00D ; 229.53 GBP; ISBN: 978-0-444-594532-2 (Set); 978-0-12-388292-6 (Vol. I) (print);978-0-12-398293-2 (Vol. II)

Feed and food safety is one of the key elements of the present food and nutrition policy. Minerals such as heavy elementsand toxic elements (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury) and excesses of essential minerals (e.g., copper, iodine, zinc) cancontribute to feed and food unsafety.

The “Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals” is the leading book dealing with the toxicology of metals. The first editionof the Handbook was published in 1979, followed by the second edition in 1986 and the third edition in 2007. The bookbecame a standard reference work for toxicologists, physicians, engineers and other people working in the fields of human,animal, environmental and occupational health.

There was a short interim period between the publishing of the 3rd, and 4th editions (2007 until 2015). The reasons for thiswere activities of the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals under the International Commission on OccupationalHealth. A wealth of new data has appeared and therefore several chapters were completely rewritten and 14 new chapterswere introduced in the book. In consequence, the fourth edition is published in two volumes – (I) General Considerations (25chapters) and (II) Specific Metals (36 chapters). The new chapters deal with specific topics, such as issues of metal toxicologyin developing countries; metals in food; the toxicology of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles; the toxic potential of metalsreleased from medical devices; gene–environmental interactions; neurotoxicology of metals; cardiovascular disease; renaleffects of exposure to metals, and also deals with metals of increasing concern such as Gold, Iridium, Lanthanum, Lithiumand Rhodium.

In addition to these new chapters, all chapters from the third edition of the book have been updated to provide a stateof the science perspective on a number of major public health issues. The increasing use of biomarkers in health has madeit essential to update and expand the chapter on “Biological monitoring and biomarkers”. “Exposure assessment, forwardand reverse dosimetry” has also been added to provide information on how data generated from biological monitoring andbiomarker studies may be translated for risk assessment purposes through computer modeling techniques. Furthermore,immunotoxicology is also an expanding field; therefore the chapter on “Immunotoxicology of metals” has been expanded.Important chapters for risk assessment, such as “Principles for prevention of the toxic effects of metals”, “Risk assessment”and “Essential metals: Assessing risks from deficiency and toxicity” have been also expanded. The focus of the book is onlyon metals. From the view of feed science and animal nutrition, it would be favorable to expand the handbook to also includethe toxicological effects of some non-metal elements such as phosphorus, sulfur, fluorine, iodine and further rare earthelements (not only lanthanum).

The editors of the book have for many years been involved in research with metals. Gunnar F. Nordberg is ProfessorEmeritus at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine of the Umea University, Sweden; Bruce A. Fowler worksas Adjunct Professor at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, and the Center for Alaska NativeHealth Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA, and Monica Nordberg is Professor Emerita at the Instituteof Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Ninety-six colleagues from 16 countries supportedthe editors as chapter authors. Seventy scientists worked as chapter reviewers and contributed to the high scientific standardof the book.

All chapters are characterized by a similar structure. The General Considerations in the first volume (545 p.) describesome principles of Toxicology of metals: (1); Sampling. Analytical methods and speciation as general chemistry (2); Routesof exposure, dose and toxicokinetics of metals (3); Toxicity of metals and metal oxide nanoparticles (4); Toxicity of metalsreleased from implanted medical devices (5); Toxic metals in food with subchapters for Cadmium, Lead, Mercury, Arsenicand food contamination from packaging (e.g., Tin, Aluminum, Silver nanoparticles and Nickel (6); Exposure assessment,forward and reverse dosimetry (7); Biological monitoring and biomarkers including reference values (8); Selected molecular

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mechanisms of metal toxicity and carcinogenicity (9); General considerations of dose–effect and dose–response relationships(10); Interactions and mixtures in metal toxicology (11); Gene–environmental interactions for metals (12); Epidemiologicalapproaches to metal toxicology (13); Essential metals: Assessing risks from deficiency and toxicology (14); Neurotoxicologyof metals (15); Cardiovascular disease (16); Renal effects of exposure to metals (17); Carcinogenicity of metal compounds(18); Immunotoxicology of metals (19); Effects of metallic elements on reproduction and development (20); Risk assessment(22); Diagnosis and treatment of metal poisoning: General aspects (23); Principles for prevention of the toxic effects of metals(24) and Metal toxicology in developing countries (25). The length of the chapters in Volume I varies between 10 and 38pages.

Volume II deals with specific metals in 31 chapters on 836 pages. The metals are described in alphabetical order, beginningwith Aluminum (26); followed by Antimony (27); Arsenic (28); Barium (29); Beryllium (30); Bismuth (31); Cadmium (32);Chromium (33); Cobalt (34); Copper (35); Gallium and Gallium semiconductor compounds (36); Germanium (37); Gold andGold mining (38); Indium (39); Iridium (40); Iron (41); Lanthanum (42); Lead (43); Lithium (44); Manganese (45); Mercury(46); Molybdenum (47); Nickel (48); Palladium (49); Platinum (50); Rhodium (51); Selenium (52); Silver (53); Tellurium(54); Thallium (55); Tin (56) Titanium (57); Tungsten (58); Uranium (59); Vanadium (60) and Zinc (61). The length of thechapters in Volume II varies between 7 (Lanthanum) and 63 (Mercury) pages.

There is an Index (31 pages) at the end both volumes. The book offers a complete review on general aspects on metals,such as physical and chemical properties, analytical methods, production and uses, toxicology, environmental levels andexposures, metabolism, levels in tissues and biological fluids, effects of dose–response relationships and many other topics.

The “Handbook on the Toxicology of Metals” is an excellent tool for MSc and PhD students in various fields of naturalsciences, scientists in chemical laboratories and in general, for all those working with metals, also in feed and animalproduction and in feed and food safety.

Gerhard Flachowsky ∗

Institute of Animal Nutrition, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Federal Research Institute of Animal Health,Bundesallee 50, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany

∗ Tel.: +49 531 514112; fax: +49 531 58044 299.E-mail address: gerhard.flachowsky@fli.bund.de