Biological environmental specimen banking in Slovakia.

Biological environmental specimens, including samples of human tissues, were stored for 5-10 years after solubilizing by mineralization in boiling nitric acid. The sampling procedure, transport treatment and storing was standardized. Documentation identifying the sample and its origin were used.

Health and chemical environment in Czecho-Slovakia, international cooperation context.

This review provides a record of the present situation with regard to public health and environmental degradation and its underlying causes in Czecho-Slovakia, taking into account "ways of life," which is a synonym for its two components: environment and behavior. It gives attention to the priorities which include air and water pollution and food contamination. "Environmental protection" includes the human health protection from air, water, land, and groundwater pollution, ecological protection and natural resource preservation, use of pesticides, food and consumer product safety, and safety associated with the introduction of new chemicals into commerce.

Blood and placental concentrations of cadmium, lead, and mercury in mothers and their newborns.

Placental transfer of cadmium, lead and mercury was studied under the conditions of environmental exposures of pregnant women to these heavy metals. Fifty pregnant women from industrial area and a similar control group from a semirural area were examined. Cadmium, lead and total mercury levels were determined in maternal erythrocytes and plasma, in placenta, and in erythrocytes and plasma of umbilical cord blood using atomic absorption spectrophotometry.