heavy metal

A very imprecise term, never defined by any authoritive body, used loosely to refer to both the element and its compounds. It is based on categorization by density, which is rarely a biologically significant property. It is often used as a group name for metals and metalloids that have been associated with contamination and potential toxicity or ecotoxicity. However, the assumption that all so-called "heavy metals" and their compounds have highly toxic or ecotoxic properties is not supported by facts. Even further, the list of "heavy metals" is not clearly defined and has no basis in their chemistry. Even the term "metal" is commonly misused in both toxicological literature and in legislation to mean the pure metal and all the chemical species in which it may exist.

Very often, ther term "heavy metals" is used, based on one of the following "definitions":

The use of the term "heavy metals"  is highly discorouged  by IUPAC.




The term "heavy metal" was found in the following pages:

Link database: Toxipedia: Thallium
Mercury contaminated freshwater fish from the NE United States: Where comes the mercury from ? | EVISA's News
Study links high levels of cadmium and lead in blood to pregnancy delay | EVISA's News
Cadmium Exposure Could Be Damaging Children’s Health more than Lead | EVISA's News
The effect of thermal treatment on the arsenic speciation in food | EVISA's News
Virtual: ICBTECE 2021: 15. International Conference on Biogeochemistry, Trace Elements and Chemical Engineering | EVISA's Agenda of Events
FDA Approves Inorganic Arsenic Limits in Baby Rice Cereal | EVISA's News
Arsenic-absorbing fern may soak up toxic metal to repel hungry bugs, UF researchers say | EVISA's News
Fractionation as a first step towards speciation analysis | EVISA's News
Link database: Blacksmith Institute: Industrial Estates - Lead Pollution
Toxic mercury remnants of gold rush will seep into San Francisco area waterways for millennia | EVISA's News
Link database: European Commission: Cadmium in Food
Link database: Blacksmith Institute: Lead pollution
XIII Int. Conf. on Heavy Metals in the Environment | EVISA's Agenda of Events
Too many dental amalgam fillings may increase mercury levels | EVISA's News
ICHMET 2018: 19th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment | EVISA's Agenda of Events
Link database: Mercury concentrations in the Canadian population, 2007 to 2009
Link database: EFSA: Cadmium in food - Scientific opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain
Instrument database: GAT - Gamma Analysen- Technik GmbH - GAT TEA 4000 MP
ICOBTE 2015: 13th International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements | EVISA's Agenda of Events