International Health and Environmental Regulations for Metals: New Challenges for Copper

Copper has been used by humanity since the bronze age and its health effects may arise both from a deficit and/or an excess of exposure/intake to copper contained in foods or in drinking water. Deficit occurs because copper is an essential element for humans, fact demonstrated for the first time in 1960. Toxicity due to ingestion of high doses of copper is documented since ancient times, and in modern times, ingestion of more than 30 mg/l in drinking water have been documented to produce severe acute effects. Copper in drinking water usually does not exceed 2 to 3 mg/l, and the mean concentration documented for large populations is under 0.3 mg/l. At present there is no scientific evidence, i.e., demonstration of a cause-effect relationship, of the toxicity of copper in drinking water for concentrations under 30 mg/l. The focus of the current discussions in countries of the European Union and in some USA States, are based on the concerns about the negative influence of copper and of other metals on health and on the environment. These discussions have influenced the new regulations of copper in drinking water, and the decisions about the regulatory levels of copper in surface water, soils and sediments. To illustrate the challenges ahead, the logic by which the current USEPA, WHO and EU recommendations and regulations regarding copper in drinking water have been derived is presented and discussed. The gaps between the requirement for new health and environmental standards and the practical scientific tools to achieve these goals are presented, and the need to develop new regulating paradigms is also discussed, including a methodology to evaluate risks to health from chemical compounds for reversible acute health effects as well as for essential micronutrients for humans. The impact of the possible restrictions on the use of copper in the EU because of health and environmental concerns in terms of the world market for copper is discussed. From the present use of copper, a 4.9% decrease in the demand in the world markets of copper in the near future can be estimated. The importance of copper and the effects of this possible negative impact require renewed efforts by all interested parties to strengthen current research and to establish new regulatory paradigms based on up-to-date science. 1. Health & Environmental Issues related to Copper In a world characterised by increasing demands for new standards for the maintenance, protection and restoration of a high level quality of the environment and health, there are a number of macro issues among opinion formers throughout the developed world that have the potential to negatively affect world markets for copper. The environmental regulatory processes represents the biggest challenge to the mining industry and to the countries interested in supporting a sustainable development