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Imbued with metals

  • 29/06/1996

Imbued with metals Industrial advancement has no doubt improved the standard of living of human beings, but in the process the crucial environmental balance established by nature over a millenium has been inadvertantly disturbed. The concentration and distribution pattern of metals within the ecosystem is especially important. Metals are a unique class of toxicants, since they cannot be broken down to non-toxic forms. Once the ecosystem is contaminated by them, they remain a potential threat for many years. There is rising evidence linking many diseases to the environmental factors which are injurious to biosystems. Most of these factors are anthropogenic in nature and among these, human activity concerning heavy metals constitutes a major health hazard.

Toxic distribution
Atmospheric concentrations (ng/m3) of some metals/metalloids in different parts of the world

Metal/
Metalloid
Greenland
(used as reference)
North
America
Europe North
India
Aluminium (Al)
Arsenic (As)
Beryllium (Be)
Cadmium (Cd)
Chromium (Cr)
Cobalt (Co)
Copper (Cu)
Iron (Fe)
Lead (Pb)
Manganese (Mn)
Mercury (Hg)
Nickel (Ni)
Silver (Ag)
Tin (Sn)
Uranium (U)
Vanadium (V)
Zinc (Zn)
(1 ng = 10-9g)
NA
0.007
NA
0.003-0.63
0.6-0.8
NA
0.03-0.06
166-171
15-22
2.8-4.5
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
0.8-1.4
18-41

1
2.40
0.2
21
60
3
100
829-2,000
2,700
150
2
100
1
20
0.2
400
500

1
1.5-5.3
2
20
25
2
340
130-5,900
120
43
1
25
1
20
0.02
30
1,200

NA
NA
NA
330-21,000
11-194
NA
208-2,682
NA
25-3,677
27-3,259
NA
12-321
NA
NA
NA
NA
241-8,549



Sick of metals
Metal-related human diseases

  Metal/
  Metalloid

Deficiency

  Diseases
  Aluminium   -   Alzheimer"s disease
  Dialysis dementia
  Dialysis osteodystrophy
  Arsenic   -   Black-foot disease
  Cadmium   -   Itai-Itai disease
  Chromium   Aging (?)
  Atherosclerosis (?)
  Diabetes mellitus (?)
  Bronchial asthma
  Contact dermatitis
  Skin allergies
  Cobalt   pernicious anaemia   Beer drinker"s disease
  Polycythemia
  Copper   Menke"s kinky hair disease
  or Trichopoliodystrophy
  Grape garden sprayer"s disease
  Indian childhood cirrhosis
  Schizophrenia (?)
  Wilson"s disease
  Iron   Microcytic hypochromic
  anaemia
  Haemochromatosis
  Porphyria cutanea tarda
  Sideroblastic anaemia
  Lead   -   Leaad encephalopathy
  Lead palsy
  Learning disability
  Mental retardation
  Manganese   -   Parkinson"s disease-like
  syndrome
  Sclerosis amoytrophic lateralis
  Mercury   -   Minamata disease
  Pink disease
  Nickel   -   Dermatitis
  Pneumonia