Metals can be funny things. For example, did you hear what happened when aluminum tried to hack into the Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry database? Its plans were foiled.
But seriously, just like this “joke” causes you mental discomfort, risk assessors are often confounded by specific characteristics of metals and inorganic compounds. Ever try to figure out how to judge whether or not metals are persistent when dealing with environmental classification schemes that use persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity criteria? Ever come across a situation where a calculated effects threshold is an order of magnitude below natural background concentrations for your site? If you have come across these or other metals-related conundrums, then the recently launched Metals Gateway website may be what you’re looking for.
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