Basic HTML Version
16
The
PLAIN TRUTH
March 1971
important question of all - who will pay) Will all nations
pay the saroe or will tbe more affiuent nations pay more?
While these questions were under examination at
the AAAS Symposium, young demonstrators in the same
building were vociferously rejecting the knowledge science
has produced. Nuclear weapons, environmental pollution,
military defoliation of crops and forests, genetic engineering
- al! results of man's scientific and technological "progress"
-carne under the protester's wrath.
The seeming paradox is that the world's troubles con–
tinue to
increase
with the discovery and dissemination of new
knowledge.
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Metallic Menaces
Pesticides, fungicides, oxides of nitrogen - these have
beeo recognized as environmental hazards for sorne ti.me.
Pollution by toxic metals, however, constitutes a "much
more serious and .. . insidious problem" reports Dr. Henry
Schroeder, professor of physiology at the Dartmouth Medical
School's Trace Element Laboratory.
One of these metals - mercury - has already hit the
headlines. And deservedly so. Noted biologist Dr. Barry
Com.moner told reportees at the same AAAS convention that
mercury contamination is ükely to emerge as a "very serious,
potentially catastrophic threat" to the environment.
Mercury, however, is only one of severa! major health–
impairing metals now on the suspect list. Others are lead,
cadmium, beryllium, nickel, vanadium, antimony and zinc.
Over the years man has been extracting these metals from
stable mineral compounds found in the earth and spreading
them around in forros that can be harmful.
The flow of metallic pollutants into the environment has
accelerated in recent decades because of technological develop–
ment. This trend has been especially pronounced since the
end of tbe second world war.
What, briefly, are sorne of tbe health hazards?
The horrible effects of acute mercury poisoning are well
known - severe disturbaoces of the nervous system, blind–
ness, deafness, iosanity and death.
Mercury has been entering the environment through
many avenues. It is discharged as waste in the production of
chlorine and sodium hydroxide; it is used in the produc–
tion of long-life batteries and electrical instruments; methyl
mercury is a commonly used fungicide for treating seed grain;
and it is discharged into the air from the burning of coal and
sorne fuel oils.
Beryllium, emitted mainly by processing plants, can
damage the respiratory system. So can nickel, which is enter–
ing our air from metallurgical plants, from the burning of
coal and oil and as an unburned fuel additive.
Cadmium gets into the air through the refining of metals
such as zinc, lead, and copper. Particles of cadmium are
picked up from galvanized water mains and pipes, thereby
contaminating drinking water. There is evidence that cad-
mium causes high blood pressure. It can also lead to respi–
ratory ailments and kidney darnage.
Lead, in the organic compound forro known as tetraethyl
lead (the gasoline additive) is readily soluble in fats. A rela–
tively heavy exposure to lead irnpairs the production of red
blood cells, resulting in anemia. In advanced cases of lead
poisoning, victims can suffer from high blood pressure, con–
vulsions, comas and brain damage.
Lead presents an interesting history of pollution through
industrialization.
"The lead content of Arctic snow and ice," reports
Por–
ttme
magazine, "went up fourfold betweeo 1750 and 1940,
and then nearly tripled again since 1940. The first increase
reflects the great expansioo of lead smelting that followed the
industrial revolution, aod the second, the use of lead addi–
tives in gasoline. In Antarctica, in sharp contrast, the scientists
found that the highest lead levels were one tenth of those
found in the northero snowpack. One reason why not much
lead has been deposited in Antarctica yet is that atmospheric
circulation is largely confined to the separate hemispheres;
also, most of the world's industry is concentrated above the
equator."
Although there are no "lead-free" people anywhere on
earth, evidence shows that lead accumulates in the tissues of
Americans at a far greater cate than in the tissues of Afri–
cans living in primitive settiogs. Lung tissue of Americans,
for example, contains twice as much lead as that of Africans.
Toxic metals can enter food, air and water by devious
and unexpected means. Scieotists had thought that metallic
mercury discharged into bodies of water would sink to the
bottom and harmlessly remain there.
It
carne as quite a
shock when they discovered that micro-organisms that thrive
in bottom sludge converted the metal into methyl mercury.
This highly toxic fat soluble compound then entered the food
chain.
The importaot conclusions to be drawn from the bur–
geoning crisis of metallic pollution are these:
1)
It may aiready be a case of "too little too late" to
avoid human health catastrophes. One scientist warns that the
human race will very likely face a "series of Minimata dis–
asters." (Scores of Japanese were killed and disabled in the
1950's after eating mercury-contaminated fi sh from Minimata
Bay.) The reason is this: mercury already dumped into Jakes
and rivers and now the oceans will not go away. It will
continue to circulate through food chains
perhaps for
cent11ries!
2) The combined effect upon human health from mer–
cury and other toxic metals as well as other forros of pollu–
tion, even from low-level exposures, may well be g.ceater
than the individual parts. Resistance to disease could be
seriously impaired - making whole populations vulnerable
to epidemics and plagues.
3) The adverse, long-range health effects upon children
may be the most tragic aspect of all. U. S. Surgeon General
Steinfield said recently that the concern today "is that we do
not, by our shortsightedness, condemn future generations to
irreversible hazardous health effects."