Heavy Metals

Of particular environmental medical importance are the following heavy metals:

Lead

  • From accumulators and ammunition
  • From a range of household items (e.g., 11:41:00B. ceramic vessels).
  • From some foods. Of particular importance in this context are plant foods contaminated with dust and offal from slaughtered animals. If the plants are consumed as vegetables, the lead load can be reduced by thorough washing. Grazing animals, however, ingest the leaves along with the dust. Offal from slaughtered animals, such as liver, kidney and brain, are among the storage organs for lead.
  • Another important source are still – especially in old buildings – existing lead pipes in the domestic water installation.Occasionally, newly laid copper pipes for domestic drinking water supply were connected with lead-containing solder.
  • Behaviors of children. In particular, young children are particularly at risk due to their age-typical play and behavior.According to estimates by the Commission “Human Biomonitoring” of the Federal Environment Agency, the daily intake amount for children is about 0.8 micrograms of lead per kilogram of body weight per day. For adults, it is slightly lower (0.5 micrograms per kilogram of body weight and day).
  • In recent years, lead pollution in Germany has declined significantly thanks to legal measures (gasoline lead law!). However, in 2007, children’s toys from the company Mattel with lead-based paint (brands: Barbie, Geotrx, Fisher Price), manufactured in China, came on the market.
  • Lead chemically resembles calcium many times and interferes in this way, among other things, calcium-dependent metabolic processes. Furthermore, lead interferes with vitamin D metabolism.

Cadmium

  • From rechargeable batteries, rectifiers, photocells enamels, yellow to reddish brown colors, corrosion inhibitors, plastic stabilizer at the PVC, alloys.
  • From photo developing baths
  • From tobacco smoke. This releases at cadmium 1.5 mg/g tobacco. Smokers, passive smokers, especially children of smokers are correspondingly stronger in passive non-smoking with up to twice the cadmium levels compared to smokers.
  • Cadmium also enters groundwater via phosphate fertilizers, landfills and rainwater. Phosphate fertilizer increases in part via its cadmium content the content of cadmium in drinking water significantly. Foodstuffs are also significantly contaminated by this. Significant accumulations of cadmium can also be detected in mushrooms. Pigs, sheep and chickens have an accumulation of cadmium in liver and kidneys.cadmium, with a half-life of 30 years, is only slowly excreted from the body via the kidneys and is deposited in the bone. Cadmium continuously displaces zinc from the body, which as an essential trace element is of great importance for the immune system, among other things. Chronic cadmium intoxication can therefore lead to a clustered susceptibility to infections.

Copper

  • From fittings, cutlery, boilers, art objects, musical instruments, coins, precision parts, piping, jewelry, power cables and many more. Copper compounds are used in color pigments, as toners and electroplated surface coatings.
  • Copper is present in the diet in cereal products, offal (liver and kidneys of ruminants can have particularly high copper content), fish, shellfish, legumes, nuts, cocoa, chocolate, coffee, tea and some green vegetables.
  • The toxic effect of copper occurs when copper ions bind to thiol groups of proteins and peroxidize lipids of the cell membrane, leading to the formation of free radicals. These damage DNA (genetic information) and cell membranes. In humans, this is the case, for example, in Wilson’s disease, a disease that mainly affects the liver.
  • The data available for the Federal Republic of Germany on the intake of copper indicate that in otherwise healthy individuals is not to be expected with an insufficient supply of the trace element copper (supply category 3). The addition of copper to food supplements is therefore not recommended. In addition, a study from the United States showed that an elevated serum copper level is associated with an increased risk of cancer.

Platinum

  • From the complex compound in cis-platinum (chemotherapy) and catalyst technology (1-3 g grams are used per catalyst.Approximately 10 % per 100,000 km are released into the environment – partly in the form of water-soluble compounds. Increasing motorization is creating a new environmental burden, the environmental medical effects of which cannot yet be predicted. After a latency period of circa 30 years, high concentrations of carcinogenic soluble platinum compounds will be detectable in drinking water.

Mercury (amalgam)
The list of heavy metals can be extended at will. The above examples are intended to show that a substance must not only be considered as a raw substance, but must also always take into account the behavior in an ecosystem with. Because of the special importance of the noxious substance mercury, a few notes on laboratory diagnostics.The following methods are considered suitable for mercury diagnostics:

  • Mercury excretion in urinePermits the statement of the actual excretion, if here no masking via the copper takes place. On the basis of this value, an excess load and excretion can be determined
  • Mercury in serumPermits the statement of mercury not bound or stored in the body and is particularly useful in acute poisoning symptoms.
  • Mercury excretion in urine after DMPS administration – DMPS test (dimaval test) This test is used to diagnostically clarify whether mercury can be mobilized from the stored depots to an increased extent
  • Basophil degranulation to mercuryShows the reaction behavior of individual cell compartments to the heavy metal and ensures the diagnosis of mercury allergy.
  • RAST to mercuryDetects IgE-mediated allergy to mercury.