Heavy Metal (chemistry) - Medicine

Medicine

In medical usage, heavy metals are loosely defined and include all toxic metals irrespective of their atomic weight: "heavy metal poisoning" can possibly include excessive amounts of iron, manganese, aluminium, mercury, cadmium, or beryllium (the fourth lightest element) or such a semimetal as arsenic. This definition excludes bismuth, the densest of approximately stable elements, because of its low toxicity.

Minamata disease results from mercury poisoning, and itai-itai disease from cadmium poisoning.

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