Heavy Metals: Environmental Threat

Abstract

Heavy metals are important among the toxic pollutants encountered in various ecosystems of the environment. The dissolved metals (particularly heavy metals) escaping into the environment pose a serious health hazard. These metals have been classified as priority pollutants by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Heavy metal pollution in the aquatic system has become a serious threat today and of great environmental concern as they are non-biodegradable and thus persistent. They accumulate in living tissues throughout the food chain which has humans at its top, multiplying the danger. Thus, it is necessary to control presence of heavy metals in the environment (Fig. 1).