[Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. II. Toxic effects]

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) represent dangerous environmental pollutants. Many of them have toxic and carcinogenic potential. Presented work summarizes most of available data on the absorption, metabolism and elimination of PAH. The second part of article contains descriptions and evaluations of toxicological studies and epidemiological investigations and provides conclusions, where possible, on the relevance of toxicity and toxicokinetic data to public health. In the third part of article, the populations with higher susceptibility to exposure to PAH are described and the influences of chemical interaction of PAH to biological effects are mentioned.