Health,Environmental+Effects

Health/Environmental effects

We are all exposed to low levels of vanadium in the food we eat, theair we breathe and the water we drink. But mostly, we absorb vanadium from the food we eat. This chemical has been found in at least 385 of 1,416 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency.

How does vanadium enter the environment?


 * Mainly from natural sources and from the burning of fuel oils such as petrol.
 * It stays for a long time in the air, water, and soil.
 * It doesn’t 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 doesn’t usually build up in animal tissue.

How does vanadium affect our health?

When we are exposed to high levels of vanadium, we can develop harmful health symptoms. Breathing high levels of vanadium primarily affects the lungs, the throat, and the eyes. For example, factory workers who breathe it for short and long periods sometimes have lung irritation, coughing, wheezing, chest pain, a runny nose, and a sore throat. These effects were found to disappear soon after they stopped breathing the contaminated air. Apart from that, research has not shown any other significant effect on our health.

We do not know the effects in the body by swallowing vanadium. When animals were given very large doses they died. Even lower levels of vanadium in the water of pregnant animals made them give birth to defective babies. Effects on human are not known, but I think that it would probably not be good for us!

We do not know if vanadium is a cause of human cancer.