Aluminium

Abstract

Aluminium, which is being produced for 100 years now, has only recently attracted the special interest of environmental chemistry. Due to changes in the natural environment, in particular due to acid rainfall, toxic effects in water organisms have become apparent that are due to greater amounts of the aluminium being set free from the large quantities in the earth's crust. Research into the conditions under which this separation of aluminium takes place, the aluminium compounds in the water and also the occurrence and mechanisms of the biological effects is only just beginning. Ecology and ecotoxicology of aluminium are, therefore, of great interest today. Aluminium is also used in human medicine in particular on patients with chronic kidney insufficiency. They have to ingest large quantities of aluminium hydroxides in connection with dialysis treatment to bind phosphate. Occasionally disorders in the central nervous system develop in such patients, the so-called dialysis encephalopathy. Whether aluminium compounds also play a role in the case of other neurological disorders, is still very questionable. In the light of this knowledge, occupational exposure to aluminium compounds is becoming increasingly important. In view of the very low absorption of aluminium compounds in the body, there have been hardly any reports of toxic damage due to aluminium at the workplace.