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IRON
Citation:
IRON. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/1-78/017.
Description:
The document surveys the effects of organic and inorganic iron that are relevant to humans and their environment. The biology and chemistry of iron are complex and only partially understood. Iron participates in oxidation reduction processes that not only affect its geochemical mobility, but also its entrance into biologic systems. Hydrated ferric oxide surfaces have adsorbent properties and may act as reaction sites and catalysts. In biologic systems, the iron atom is incorporated into several protein enzymes that participate in many oxygen and electron transport reactions. The report addresses the quantity and form of iron in the environment, its movement and the interaction between inorganic and organic forms of the metal. Some plants have capabilities of retrieving iron from the soil; vertebrates in general appear to be able to achieve satisfactory iron balance. Humans are the outstanding exception -- hundreds of millions of the world's peoples are iron-deficient because of inadequate amounts of available iron in the diet; deficiency may thus be the major iron-related environmental health problem faced by humans. Acute iron toxicity has been reported, but only with the ingestion of large amounts of iron salts.