12COPPER POISONING-A SHORT REVIEWcute copper poisoning is nearly always a result of ingestion of ionic copper, most commonly in the salt form, such as copper sulphate, although other routes of exposure are reported. Salts that are water soluble are likely to be more toxic than those that are not. The environmental protection agency guidelines permit up to 1.3mg/L of copper in drinking water. The objective of this paper is to present a short review of the copper poisoning, etiology, physiology, pathophysiology, clinical features, diagnosis and therapy. The information has been obtained by searching relevant literature using Chemical abstract, Pubmed, Delnet, Science direct, Dove press, Medline and other data bases. This short review discusses aspects of chronic and acute exposures of copper in the etiology of neurological disorders, gastrointestinal disturbances, liver disease and renal disease, changes and other health disorders. Treatment comprises fluid and electrolyte resuscitation in an ICU and copper chelating agents. Commonly used copper chelators are D-penicillamine, dimercaprol or EDTA.vijayvijay66@yahoo.co.inReview212012D-Penicillamine,Copper,Acute exposure,Chronic exposure,TherapySubash Vijayakumar,M.Sasikala,Ramaiyan DhanapalDepartment of Clinical pharmacy Service, MGM Hospital, VCOPS, Warangal, India-506 008,Department of Clinical pharmacy Service, MGM Hospital, VCOPS, Warangal, India-506 008, Department of Pharmaceutics, Kakatiya Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (KIPS), Pembarthi (V), Warangal, India-506 371.