Zinc and copper concentrations in the hair of workers from zinc based industries in India

Some trace elements have been identified as potential hazards following long term exposure, and recently there has been intense work on different elemental exposure studies. Hair being the most convenient biopsy material has enabled the study of these elements in the human body and periodic sampling provides rates for their uptake. The present study has been done to compare the concentration of zinc and copper in human hair of the workers from the zinc based industry at Udaipur. The study shows that the concentration of zinc is higher in smelter workers than in the population of Udaipur city; the value of zinc in the mine workers is close to that of Udaipur city subjects. However, the correlation between the two elements is significant at p less than 0.01 for zinc mine workers.