Cobalt poisoning
Other names	Cobaltism
Cobalt
Specialty	Toxicology

Cobaltism orcobalt poisoning isintoxication caused by excessive levels ofcobalt in the body. Cobalt is anessential element for health in animals in minute amounts as a component ofvitamin B₁₂, the deficiency of which can be fatal, as in the diseasepernicious anemia.^[1]

Exposure to cobalt metal dust is most common in the fabrication oftungsten carbide.^[2] Another source is fromwear and tear of certain metal-on-metalhip prostheses.^[3]

Per theInternational Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cobalt metal withtungsten carbide is "probablycarcinogenic to humans" (IARC Group 2A Agent), whereas cobalt metal withouttungsten carbide is "possiblycarcinogenic to humans" (IARC Group 2B Agent).

TheLD₅₀ value for soluble cobalt salts has been estimated to be between 150 and 500 mg/kg. Thus, for a 100 kg person the LD₅₀ would be about 20 grams.^[1]

Soluble cobalt(II) salts are "possiblycarcinogenic to humans" (IARC Group 2B Agents).

In August 1965, a person presented to a hospital inQuebec City with symptoms suggestive ofalcoholic cardiomyopathy. Over the next eight months, fifty more cases with similar findings appeared in the same area with twenty of these being fatal. It was noted that all were heavy drinkers who mostly drank beer and preferred theDow brand; thirty out of those drank more than 200 imperial fluid ounces (10 imp pt; 5.7 L) of beer per day.^[4]Epidemiological studies found that Dow had been addingcobalt sulfate to the beer forfoam stability since July 1965 and that the concentration added in the Quebec city brewery was ten times that of the same beer brewed inMontreal where there were no reported cases.^[5][6] A 1972 paper noted that several dozen cases were also identified over a similar time period in Omaha, Nebraska; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Belgium.^[7]

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Plants, animals, and humans can all be affected by high cobalt concentrations in the environment. For plants, the uptake and distribution of cobalt is entirely species-specific.^[8] In some species of plants, the overaccumulation of cobalt can lead to aniron deficiency. This in turn leads to poor growth of the plant as well as leaf loss which overall decreases the amount of oxygen produced by plants duringphotosynthesis. Eventually the deficiency would lead to plant death.^[8] One such example was seen in an experiment involving the effects of increased cobalt concentration ontomato plants. As the dosage of cobalt in the soil surrounding the plants increased, so too did the rate ofnecrosis of the leaves of the tomato plant. Over time this led to an inability of the plant to produce fruit and eventually the plant died.^[9]

• Cobalt
• Toxic effects of metals

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