A Review on the Toxicity and Effects of Heavy Metals on Environment and Health

Abstract

Heavy metals are those metals which have a specific density greater than 5g/〖cm〗^3. They are found naturally as well as manufactured artficially. The heavy metals have an adverse action on environment and on the human beings. This review is going to describe the effects of heavy metals on the humans and environment. The toxicity of some heavy metals that are abundant in our environment has also been described. This review is going to describe the mechanism of toxicity, accumulation and exposure of heavy metals in the environment. We have described the effects of four heavy metals i.e. Arsenic, Lead, Chromium and Cadmium on the health of living organisms. After that, we have described their toxicity and their mechnism of toxicity. After that the removal of heavy metals from water had been described. Keywords: Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Heavy Metals , Lead, Mercury, Toxicity Cite this Article: Tahir Iqbal, Alia Jabeen, Aqsa Tehseen, Almas Bashir. A Review on the Toxicity and Effects of Heavy Metals on Environment and Health. International Journal of Industrial Biotechnology and Biomaterials. 2019; 5(1) 17–28p.