In conclusion, heavy metals are an important part of our environment and a growing threat to our health. As I have explored over the course of my blog, heavy metals, such as mercury, have been influencing us since we first began to evolve and pose a significant threat to our well being when their emissions are not monitored. Consumption is the most common route of poisoning. As seen with Minimata and the USA, mercury is primarily ingested through fish and other sea food. It is successfully transferred up the tropic levels and thus reaches toxic levels at higher tropic levels. Similarly cadmium, passes into the food chain through plants and crops, which have a higher tolerance for the metal than animals or humans. Arsenic has similar properties to cadmium, it readily moves through the soil or rock and displays a high tolerance in vegetation yet when ingested by humans can have severe health implications, as seen in the case of Bangladesh, where the main source of poisoning was water resources in the Ganges.

One cannot ignore the importance of industry in the global contamination of heavy metals. Industry as far back as the classical era, during the Greeks and Romans, is responsible for high levels of heavy metal emissions. The main source of poisoning at Minimata was industrial actions and many marine polluted areas are near industrial outputs. Understanding their harmful effects and past emissions is crucial to being able to understand the current threat and how to mitigate potential harmful effects in the future. In many cases, the lesson at Minimata and in other parts of the world, has still not been learnt or is ignored for economic gain. Evidence found in ice cores shows that heavy metal pollution is not a new phenomena and has the potential to topple entire empires and as such it should be taken seriously.

Writing this blog has been an interesting experience where I have been able to explore a wide range of material and research. The topic chosen was broad and looked at a very interesting aspect of environmental pollution that is not always fully portrayed in modern forms of media, unlike climate change or deforestation. I believe it has been a valuable experience that has allowed me to develop key skills in both analytical and research fields. I would have enjoyed to have explored the other metals considered toxic and have gone into more depth about the modern roles of copper and lead.

I hope you enjoyed Highway to Bad Hell-th: Heavy Metal Pollution.