Vanadium is a compound that occurs in nature as a white-to-gray metal, and is often found as crystals. Pure vanadium has no smell. It usually combines with other elements such as oxygen, sodium, sulfur, or chloride. Vanadium and vanadium compounds can be found in the earth's crust and in rocks, some iron ores, and crude petroleum deposits.

Vanadium is mostly combined with other metals to make special metal mixtures called alloys. Vanadium in the form of vanadium oxide is a component in special kinds of steel that is used for automobile parts, springs, and ball bearings. Most of the vanadium used in the United States is used to make steel. Vanadium oxide is a yellow-orange powder, dark-gray flakes, or yellow crystals. Vanadium is also mixed with iron to make important parts for aircraft engines.

Small amounts of vanadium are used in making rubber, plastics, ceramics, and other chemicals.

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What happens to vanadium when it enters the environment?

• Vanadium mainly enters the environment from natural sources and from the burning of fuel oils.
• It stays in the air, water, and soil for a long time.
• It does not dissolve well in water.
• It combines with other elements and particles.
• It sticks to soil sediments.
• Low levels have been found in plants, but it is not likely to build up in the tissues of animals.

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How might I be exposed to vanadium?

• Exposure to very low levels in air, water, and food.
• Eating higher levels of it in certain foods.
• Breathing air near an industry that burns fuel oil or coal; these industries release vanadium oxide into the air.
• Working in industries that process it or make products containing it.
• Breathing contaminated air or drinking contaminated water near waste sites or landfills containing vanadium.
• Vanadium is not readily absorbed by the body from the stomach, gut, or contact with the skin.

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How can vanadium affect my health?

Exposure to high levels of vanadium can cause harmful health effects. The major effects from breathing high levels of vanadium are on the lungs, throat, and eyes. Workers who breathed it for short and long periods sometimes had lung irritation, coughing, wheezing, chest pain, runny nose, and a sore throat. These effects stopped soon after they stopped breathing the contaminated air. Similar effects have been observed in animal studies. No other significant health effects of vanadium have been found in people.

We do not know the health effects in people of ingesting vanadium. Animals that ingested very large doses have died. Lower, but still high levels of vanadium in the water of pregnant animals resulted in minor birth defects. Some animals that breathed or ingested vanadium over a long term had minor kidney and liver changes.

The amounts of vanadium given in these animal studies that resulted in harmful effects are much higher than those likely to occur in the environment.

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How likely is vanadium to cause cancer?

The Department of Health and Human Services, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have not classified vanadium as to its human carcinogenicity.

No human studies are available on the carcinogenicity of vanadium. No increase in tumors was noted in a long-term animal study where the animals were exposed to vanadium in the drinking water.

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Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to vanadium?

There are medical tests available to measure levels of vanadium in urine and blood. These tests are not routinely performed at doctors' offices because they require special equipment, but your doctor can take samples and send them to a testing laboratory. These tests can't determine if harmful health effects will occur from the exposure to vanadium.

Another indicator of high vanadium exposure in people is that their tongues may have a green color on top.

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Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?

The EPA requires discharges or spills of 1,000 pounds or more of vanadium into the environment to be reported.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set an exposure limit of 0.05 milligrams per cubic meter (0.05 mg/m3) for vanadium pentoxide dust and 0.1 mg/m3 for vanadium pentoxide fumes in workplace air for an 8-hour workday, 40-hour workweek.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) has recommended an occupational exposure limit of 0.05 mg/m3 for vanadium pentoxide.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has recommended that 35 mg/m3 of vanadium be considered immediately dangerous to life and health. This is the exposure level of a chemical that is likely to cause permanent health problems or death.

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Glossary

Carcinogenicity: Ability to cause cancer.

Ingesting: Taking food or drink into your body.

Long-term: Lasting one year or longer.

Milligram (mg): One thousandth of a gram.

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References

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1992. Toxicological Profile for vanadium. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.

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Where can I get more information?

ATSDR can tell you where to find occupational and environmental health clinics. Their specialists can recognize, evaluate, and treat illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances. You can also contact your community or state health or environmental quality department if you have any more questions or concerns.

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