Tellurium - 52Te: biological information
Tellurium has no biological role. All tellurium compounds are highly toxic.
Levels in humans
The abundances of the elements in humans.
- Human abundance by weight: (no data) ppb by weight
- Human abundance by atoms: (no data) atoms relative to C = 1000000
How much tellurium is in your body? Find out here.
You can use this form to calculate how much tellurium your body contains. Enter your weight in either kilograms or pounds and click the "Calculate" button. You must enter a number, not text! Elements for which there are no data will always give a value of zero for the weight, no matter what you put in the weight box.
Hazards and Risks
Hazards and risks associated with tellurium:
Fortunately, tellurium compounds are encountered rarely by most people. All tellurium compounds are highly toxic. Tellurium compounds are teratogenic. Tellurium compounds should only be handled by competent chemists since ingestion in even small amounts causes dreadful smelling breath and appalling body odour.
References
- J.E. Huheey, E.A. Keiter, and R.L. Keiter in Inorganic Chemistry : Principles of Structure and Reactivity, 4th edition, HarperCollins, New York, USA, 1993.
- S. Budavari (Ed.) in The Merck Index, 11th ed., Merck, USA, 1989.
- N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.