Table 1. Current classifications and assessments of aluminum.
Institution | Values/classifications | Recommendation/rationale |
German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt) |
<15 µg/l urine, <5 µg/l serum | Reference values for the general population (provisional) (6) |
German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) |
50 µg/g creatinine (BAT value); not classified into a carcinogenity category | Biological tolerance value at the workplace (7), derived on the basis of neurotoxicity as the critical endpoint |
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) | TWI 1 mg aluminum/kg body weight | Tolerable weekly intake (TWI) (5) |
World Health Organization (WHO) | PTWI 2 mg aluminum/kg body weight | Provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) (e2) |
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung) | Since aluminum occurs ubiquitously, TWI can be reached through diet alone and is possibly exceeded due to the daily use of aluminum-containing antiperspirants (4) | |
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) | Exposure during aluminum production: carcinogenic to humans (bladder and lung cancer) | Exposure as a whole during the production process, involving proven carcinogens such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, is causal rather than aluminum’s material properties (e3) |