Does Environmental Exposure to Manganese Pose a Health Risk to Healthy Adults?

Manganese is an essential nutrient that also may be toxic at high concentrations. Subjects chronically exposed to manganese-laden dust in industrial settings develop neuropsychological changes that resemble Parkinson's disease. Manganese has been proposed as an additive to gasoline (as a replacement for the catalytic properties of lead), which has generated increased research interest in the possible deleterious effects of environmental exposure to manganese. Low-level exposure to manganese has been implicated in neurologic changes, decreased learning ability in school-aged children, and increased propensity for violence in adults. However, a thorough review of the literature shows very weak cause-and-effect relationships that do not justify concern about environmental exposure to manganese for most of the North American population.