Introduction to Beryllium: Uses, Regulatory History, and Disease

Risk of beryllium sensitization in a low‐exposed former nuclear weapons cohort from the cold war era

“…It was also higher than rates in other industries including 0.3% in aluminum smelters exposed to low concentration beryllium fumes and dusts through the bauxite refinery process [Taiwo et al, 2008] and 1% in workers from a beryllium copper-alloy distribution facility [Stanton et al, 2006]. Finally, it was higher than the 0% [Silveira et al, 2003] to 1% [Kolanz, 2001] background rate suggested in unexposed populations. The rate of beryllium sensitization in unexposed populations has not been well described as BeLPT testing is not performed routinely and the only estimates come from studies of non-exposed occupational cohorts, control groups used by the laboratories or community based surveys.…”

“…Although not well studied, it is presumed that the background rate of BeSdefined either as a single or confirmed abnormal BeLPT-in the unexposed population is very low and may range between 0% and 1% [Kolanz, 2001;Silveira et al, 2003;ATSDR, 2006]. Section 3162 to Public Law 102-484 called for the Secretary of Energy to implement nationwide surveillance to identify the hazardous exposures in atomic weapons production, and to provide medical screenings to detect health effects from those exposures.…”

Urinary levels, tissue concentrations and lung inflammation after nose‐only exposure to three different chemical forms of beryllium

“…The deposition and clearance of Be are governed by important factors such as dose, particle size, solubility of particles and the ambient concentration (Kolanz, 2001;Stefaniak et al, 2007, Henneberger et al, 2001Kent et al, 2001). The more soluble compounds are generally cleared more rapidly by dissolution in respiratory tract fl uid.…”

Experimental and theoretical investigation of sorption kinetics of beryllium on Amberlite-IR-120 sorbent

“…Due to it's highly desirable material properties it has become an essential element used in the aerospace, computer, electronics and nuclear industries [1,2]. Whereas beryllium oxide acts as an electrical insulator in some applications, beryllium presents an essential constituent of synthetic optical crystals as La 2 Be 2 O 5 , BeAl 2 O 4 , BeAl 6 O 10 and LaBeAl 11 O 19 which possess good potentials as effective laser materials [3][4][5][6].…”