Thallium

Background: One thing that thallium is used in is glasses manufacturing, when it is added to glass it increases it’s density and refractive index which helps its ability to break light into its component colors. The other reason they are ideal to use is because they have transmission at longer wavelengths and is harder than other infrared optics. Another is an infrared detector, since thallium bromide- iodide crystal’s electrical conductivity changes when exposed to infrared light it is useful to photocells. Next thallium used to be helpful in treating ringworm however this method has been limited because it’s line between toxicity and therapeutic benefit. Thallium is used in electrodes in dissolved oxygen analyzers. Last, it was used in rat poisons because of its colorless, odorless and tasteless characteristics but is not used as a pesticide in the US anymore.

It usually gets exposed into the air from coal burning or smelting. Thallium can be absorbed through inhalation or ingestion. Once entered into the body thallium willingly crosses to the placenta and can be found in breast milk. To get rid of it from the body tissue it takes some time because it can only exit through urine or feces.

Thallium doesn’t exactly do anything positive in it’s original form. In some cases it is used, as poison since contact with the skin is dangerous and thallium vapor could possibly be carcinogenic. It can be found in manganese nodules on the ocean floor. So it can be pretty much found around the world then I’m supposing, yet most of the US’s supply of thallium is imported. Also, you can obtain it by smelting lead and zinc ores. Last, thallium supply is abundant in the earth’s crust that is estimated to be about 0.7 mg/kg.

Health & Environmental:

Thallium can enter your body by eating food that is grown in your backyard, breathing the air and drinking the water. However the prominent exposure takes place when you eat food. Tiny amounts of thallium are released into the air from cement factories, smelting operations and coal burning power plants, and then falls out of the air into fruit and vegetable gardens therefore contaminating the soil. It can easily enter your food because once in the soil the plants can absorb it through the roots. Also, thallium can be obtained by the body through breathing in the chemical in power plants or contact with their skin. Next, if you live near a chemical site the thallium compounds can mix easily with the water and contaminate your water source. Last, people who smoke have twice as much thallium in their bodies than non-smokers.

Thallium can affect the nervous system, lung, heart, liver and kidney if immense amounts are eaten or drunk for brief periods of time. You can also lose hair, start vomiting, have headaches, loss of reflexes, and have diarrhea if you are exposed to huge amounts of thallium. Death can happened if as little as 1 gram of thallium is entered into the body. Thallium leaves your body very slowly and most of it only leaves in urine or feces in some cases. It can be found in urine up to 2 months after it first entered.

Thallium mostly interacts with the air I would say because almost all the time that’s the way it is exposed into the environment by smelting, coal burning or cement factories. Then the soil would be the next part of the environment it interacts with because once it drops from the air it gets absorbed by the soil. Overall thallium contaminates any system or process that it comes in contact with, it doesn’t do much good for the plants air or water. Thallium degrades as soon as it is exposed to air. Its metallic look quickly tarnishes to a blue/gray color and looks like lead. Also a thick layer of oxide will build up if left in the air. When it is in water thallium hydroxide is formed. A few compounds of thallium are Fluorides: (TIF,TIF3), Chlorides: ( TICI, TICI2, TICI3) and Bromides: ( TIBr, TI2Br4)