Epidemiological data: There have been several outbreaks of wax ester diarrhoea recorded in Australia in recent years (Shadbolt et al. 2002; Gregory 2002; Givney 2002; Yohannes et al. 2002).
Ranking of hazard: Escolar wax esters are ranked as ‘moderate’ in terms of adverse health effects (Section 3, Table 3).
Arsenic
Arsenic is ubiquitous and occurs naturally in both organic and inorganic forms. People are exposed to arsenic through the environment (primarily via the skin and by inhalation), food and water ingestion and through some workplaces.
Inorganic arsenic is the toxic form of arsenic for humans. There is little information on the organic forms of arsenic in terms of their toxicological properties, but it appears that they are much less toxic than the inorganic forms. Limited studies indicate that people who consume large quantities of organic arsenic in fish do not show any ill effects. Drinking water contains largely the inorganic form of arsenic, whereas food contains more than 90 per cent of its arsenic in the organic form.
