Hair and nails as biological indices of exposure to metals

Metal determination in human tissues is a prime application of biological monitoring. The diseased status of exposed human population can be ascertained using biological tissues as diagnostic tools making biomonitoring an important field of research. This paper deals with quantitative determination of Cadmium in hair of male subjects exposed to the metal in workplace alongwith the controls. The concentration of cadmium was assayed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry and results were interpreted in view of the personal and medical details of the subjects chosen for investigation. Significantly high values of Cadmium were present in smokers as compared to non-smokers.