Heavy metals: a hidden threat

The chemical industry makes our interesting and comfortable. But there is a downside - the appearance in the environment of substances that are unnatural for her. Surely everyone has heard something about heavy metals. But not everyone knows the definition of this category of substances.

Heavy metals are substances that have a density greater than iron and are found in small quantities in the natural environment. But in a new, human-created environment, they have a very strong effect on plants, animals and humans. The thing is that they sometimes become too much for systems that are not adapted to such concentrations, whether it is the body of a person, an animal or the organism of a plant.

Heavy metals in the water from time to time appear in different regions of the world. So it was in Japan. The condition caused by an increase in the concentration of mercury was called Minimal's disease. More than a hundred people died from her, and the number of sick people was estimated in thousands. The unhappy people felt the strongest weakness, it was very difficult for them to speak, the gait became uncomfortable, the field of view narrowed, the legs grew numb. In severe cases, it reached a complete loss of vision and death. This sad event happened in 1953.

The reason was that a river was flowing into Minamata Bay. And it was poured into waste chemical plant. In rotting aquatic vegetation, methylmercury was obtained from mercury - an extremely toxic substance. The higher the food chain, the higher the concentration. The most poison was stored in predatory fish. When methylmercury was ingested in the human body, it accumulated in the brain, gradually causing all the described problems with the central nervous system.

Also in Japan, there was a history in the basin of the river Dzintsu in the 20s of the 20th century. There for a long time there was a terrible illness: people had deformed bones and they died with moans, translated into Russian as "painful!". This horror lasted until the 70's, when the patients turned and sued the company that poured into the cadmium rivers in the waste mines.

Heavy metals in the soil are less common, but still farmers are advised to check the soil for their presence before planting their plants. After all, if this is not done, people, animals, and plants will suffer as well. And this is not only morally unacceptable and punishable, but also unprofitable.

What is most often found in soils? First of all, lead. Where does he come from? From exhaust gases. That's why you should not pick berries and mushrooms right next to the road. And if there is a field? In civilized countries special fences have long been standing. Sometimes lead gets into the soil with poor-quality insect repellent. So when buying pesticides for cottages, be sure to find out at least on the Internet their background.

We already talked about cadmium. He may find himself in the soil. He used to be brought into the earth together with phosphorus fertilizers. Then people became more attentive, but sometimes the high concentration of cadmium in this category of fertilizers is still present.

Arsenic is found in garbage recycling products, in which its concentration increases, so it is doubtful that garbage processing is a panacea for human ecological well-being.

If earlier the bulk of the pollution of the environment with heavy metals was useful in developed countries for the emissions of the chemical industry, now the main problem is related to their increased amount in some fertilizers. Potash fertilizers do not have the property of containing cadmium, but phosphorous can. Therefore, it is better to prefer foreign ones, there the control is much stricter.

You should not be afraid of heavy metals, but if in your area there were elevated levels of their maintenance, you need to spend at least one month a year in a clean ecological environment.