HEAVY METALS AND THEIR IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH

Abstract

Due to the deleterious consequences it is having on a global scale, the presence of heavy metals has become a matter of significant concern. Due to the rapidly expanding agriculture and metal sectors, as well as inappropriate waste management, fertilisers, and pesticides, these inorganic pollutants are being dumped into our water, soil, and environment. Heavy metals interfere with biological functions such as growth, proliferation, differentiation, damage repair, and apoptosis. Multiple industrial, residential, agricultural, medical, and technical applications have resulted in their widespread presence in the environment, generating concerns regarding their possible consequences on human health and the environment. Heavy metals occur naturally and are vital to life, but buildup in organisms can render them hazardous. The most prevalent heavy metals that damage the environment include arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, lead, and mercury. Due to its capacity to travel large distances in the atmosphere, mercury, lead, and cadmium pose the most threat. Mining, industrial output (foundries, smelters, oil refineries, petrochemicals plants, pesticides production, chemical industries), untreated sewage sludge, and diffuse sources such as metal pipelines, traffic, and combustion byproducts from coal-burning power plants are all sources of heavy metals. Mercury, lead, chromium, cadmium, and arsenic have caused human poisoning more frequently than any other heavy metals. Apoptosis, development, proliferation, differentiation, damage healing, and apoptosis are all affected by heavy metals. Instabilities in the genome have been linked to heavy metals like chromium and cadmium, as well as arsenic.