Cadmium, metal manufacturing pollutant

Cadmium is close to lead and mercury as a metal of current toxicological concern.12346 Extraction of lead and zinc ores, which contain cadmium, pollutes the environment with cadmium. The use of cadmium before 1900 was infrequent however, its valuable metallurgical properties, such as resistance to corrosion, increased its use markedly, for example in the manufacture of alloys and as a coating on steel. It is also now widely used in nickel cadmium ( nicad ) batteries. Coal and other fossil fuels contain cadmium which is released into the environment on combustion. 

The presence of elements known to have adverse health effects in humans such as lead and arsenic is obviously undesirable in food. Environmental sources are the main contributors to contamination of food with most metals and other elements. Some elements (e.g. arsenic) are present naturally but the major sources of other elements (e.g. lead) in the environment are from pollution from industrial and other human activities. The presence of metals and other elements in food can also be the result of contamination from certain agricultural practices (e.g. cadmium from phosphate fertilisers) or manufacturing processes (e.g. tin in canned foods). 

These common uses only hint at all the things that transition metals can do. The copper penny, for instance, is mostly made of zinc, another transition metal. Chromium provides the shiny, mirror-like metal coating on chrome car bumpers, but is also added to some lasers to make their light shine red. Nickel and chromium combine in an alloy that can be coiled into the wires that heat toasters and hair dryers. Titanium dioxide is a very white reflective compound used in toothpaste and paints. The transition metal cadmium is used in brilliant and permanent colors such as cadmium yellow, red, and orange. Artists have used cadmium-based paints for hundreds of years, and manufacturers used the colors more recently in plastic products. However, the colors are rarely used now that scientists have discovered that cadmium pollution can cause cancer and other health problems. 

Mercury is directly below cadmium in the periodic table, but has a considerably more varied and interesting chemistry than cadmium or zinc. Elemental mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature, and its relatively high vapor pressure contributes to its toxicological hazard. Mercury metal is used in electric discharge tubes (mercury lamps), gauges, pressure-sensing devices, vacuum pumps, valves, and seals. It was formerly widely used as a cathode in the chlor-alkali process for the manufacture of NaOH and Cl2, a process that has been largely discontinued, in part because of the mercury pollution that resulted from it. 

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