Pets as Sentinels of Human Exposure to Neurotoxic Metals

Abstract

The idea that animals may be used as sentinels of environmental hazards pending over humans and the associated public health implications is not a new one. Nowadays pets are being used as bioindicators for the effects of environmental contaminants in human populations. This is of paramount importance due to the large increase in the worldwide distribution of synthetic chemicals, particularly in the built environment. Companion animals share the habitat with humans being simultaneously exposed to and suffering the same disease spectrum as their masters. Moreover, their shorter latency periods (due to briefer lifespans) enable them to act as early warning systems, allowing timely public health interventions. The rise on ethical constraints on the use of animals and, consequently, on the sampling they can be subjected to has led to the preferential use of noninvasive matrices, and in this case we are looking into hair. This chapter focuses in three non-essential metals: mercury, lead, and cadmium, due to their ubiquitous presence in the built environment and their ability of affecting the mammal nervous system. There is a fairly short amount of studies reporting the concentrations of these metals in pets' hair, particularly for cats. These studies are characterized, and the metal concentrations corresponding to different parameters (e.g., age, sex, diet, rearing) are described in order to provide the reader with a general vision on the use of this noninvasive matrix on the studies conducted since the last two decades of the twentieth century.

Occurrence of emerging contaminants in pet hair and indoor air: integrative health risk assessment using multiple ToxCast endpoints

“…This is reasonable because CUPs and PCMs are oen used for pet hygiene and may come into direct contact with pet hair during their applications, whereas PAHs and OPEs are released into the indoor environment from other sources (such as cooking and furniture) and then mainly partitioned to pet hair via air and dust or other routes. 11 PCMs are commonly found in personal care products, such as shampoos, lotions, detergents, and pet toiletries, 29 and Table 1 Range, mean and median concentrations of individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organophosphate esters (OPEs), polycyclic musks (PCMs), antibiotics and current-use pesticides (CUPs) in indoor dust (ng g −1 dw), pet hair (ng g −1 dw) and indoor air (ng m −3 ) CUPs are used for control of pests and fungi. The applications of shampoos and detergents for pet bath and pest control sprays might lead to high concentrations of PCM and CUP residues in pet hair.…”

“…This concern is intensied with the increasing population of pet owners in recent years 10 and pets have been proposed to be sentinels of indoor contamination. 11,12 Although several studies showed that some contaminants could accumulate in pet hair, the health risk from pet hair exposure is largely unknown. Limited information is available so far on the occurrence of diverse classes of contaminants in pet hair, in comparison to other indoor environmental media.…”

“…This concern is intensified with the increasing population of pet owners in recent years 10 and pets have been proposed to be sentinels of indoor contamination. 11,12…”

One Digital Health: A Unified Framework for Future Health Ecosystems

“…The integration of these systems into pet health care may provide a better understanding of factors that affect pets’ health and pet owners’ benefits. Moreover, data on changes in a pet’s health can be used as pet owner health indicators [ 91 ] and environmental quality indicators [ 92 ].…”

One Health of Peripheries: Biopolitics, Social Determination, and Field of Praxis

“…The life cycle of animals is shorter than in humans. Its monitoring contributes to the early detection of chronic diseases and other health problems resulting from exposure to unhealthy environments ( 90 , 91 ). As favelas' boundaries are not hermetic and do not entirely restrict their contextual effects, improving their health reflects outside them.…”