Health Risks of Heavy Metals

Heavy metals can be very harmful to your health if found in your drinking water. Severe effects include reduced growth and development, cancer, organ damage, nervous system damage, and in extreme cases, death. Exposure to some metals, such as mercury and lead, may also cause development of auto-immunity, in which a person's immune system attacks its own cells. This can lead to joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, and disease of the kidneys, circulatory system, and nervous system.

The rapidly developing body systems in the fetus, infants and young children are far more sensitive to the toxic effects of heavy metals. Childhood exposure to some metals can result in learning difficulties, memory impairment, damage to the nervous system, and behavioral problems such as aggressiveness and hyperactivity. At higher doses, heavy metals can cause irreversible brain damage. Children may receive higher doses of metals from food than adults, since they consume more food for their body weight than adults.

Where do Heavy Metals come from?

Toxic metals can be present in industrial and urban runoff, which can be harmful to humans and aquatic life. Increased urbanization and industrialisation are to blame for an increased level of trace metals, especially heavy metals, in our waterways. There are over 50 elements that can be classified as heavy metals, 17 of which are considered to be both very toxic and relatively accessible. Toxicity levels depend on the type of metal, it's biological role, and the type of organisms that are exposed to it.

The heavy metals linked most often to human poisoning are lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium. Other heavy metals, including copper, zinc and chromium, are actually required by the body in small amounts, but can also be toxic in larger doses.

Heavy metals in the environment are caused by air emissions from coal-burning plants, smelters, and other industrial facilities; waste incinerators; process wastes from mining and industry; and lead in household plumbing and old house paints. Industry is not totally to blame as heavy metals can sometimes enter the environment through natural processes. For example, in some parts of the USA, naturally occurring geologic deposits of arsenic can dissolve into groundwater, potentially resulting in unsafe levels of this heavy metal in decades or centuries, increasing the likelihood of human exposure.

In addition to drinking water, we can be exposed to heavy metals through inhalation of air pollutants, exposure to contaminated soils or industrial waste, or consumption of contaminated food. Because of contaminated water, food sources such as vegetables, grains, fruits, fish and shellfish can also become contaminated by accumulating metals from the very soil and water it grows from.

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