Many people know hexavalent chromium as a silent antagonist in the biopic Erin Brockovich (2000), which starred American actress Julia Roberts as a legal assistant taking on a company accused of polluting the water of rural Hinkley, California, which resulted in elevated rates of cancer and death among the town’s residents. But what is hexavalent chromium, and what is it used for?
Industry adds chromium (Cr) to iron and nickel to make metal alloys especially characterized by their high resistance to corrosion and oxidation. Used in small amounts, chromium hardens steel. Stainless steels are alloys of chromium and iron in which the chromium content varies from 10 to 26 percent. Chromium alloys are used to make products such as oil tubing, automobile trim, and cutlery. Chromite is used as a refractory (a substance that is resistant to heat) and as a raw material for the production of chromium chemicals. The most common forms of chromium are +2, +3, and +6 oxidation states.
In very small amounts, trivalent chromium (Cr+3) is useful in animal metabolism, helping to regulate glucose levels and increase the effectiveness of insulin in the body. This form of chromium appears in a number of foods, including broccoli, potatoes, and garlic. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notes that, on average, people take in less than 0.2 to 0.4 microgram from the air, less than 2 micrograms from the water, and less than 60 micrograms from food each day.
Hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), in contrast, is toxic. The chemical is used in a number of industrial processes as well as for leather tanning, chromium plating, colored glass making and in paint pigments and inks that color plastics and fabrics and serve as corrosion-resistant coatings. It is hazardous when breathed in, ingested, or touched. It carries a 50 percent lethality (LD50) when ingested to the amount of 50 milligrams per liter of body weight.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), in any 8-hour work shift, the average exposure to hexavalent chromium should not go beyond a concentration of 5 micrograms per cubic meter. Repeated exposure to hexavalent chromium can cause a number of respiratory conditions, including asthma, bronchitis, itching, physical trauma to the respiratory tract, and lung cancer.
Real-life Hinkley has been all but abandoned since Erin Brockovich was in theaters. Although some remediation and cleanup have been done, the worry of contaminated water continues to hover over the town. The United States Geologic Survey (USGS) determined that even as late as 2007, concentrations of hexavalent chromium in Hinkley averaged about 1.2 micrograms per liter (about 1.2 parts per billion [ppb]), peaking at about 3.1 micrograms per liter. In the wake of the Hinkley event, the state of California set a public health goal of 0.02 ppb for drinking water in 2011, which is far less than the current EPA standard of 100 ppb for all forms of chromium.