Leena Muralidharan

Nail and Heavy Metal Toxicity Leena Muralidharan

Contamination of air, water, soil, and food products are the major cause for the entry of harmful elements into human body. Results also showed that Cd, Cu, Pb contents in hair and nail of female subjects are more in junk food consumers taking from street food venders and restaurants. For man food forms the major non occupational source of exposure to heavy metals. Although human body has got homeostatic mechanism that enable them to tolerate, small fluctuation in the, intake of such metals above and below certain permissible or recommended levels will have devastating acute and chronic health effects. Therefore there is an immediate need for public awareness about the hazards of the environment and to take necessary measures. It seems necessary to carry out routine checkup on food adulteration, soil ,air,water contamination and control on pesticide usage in big metropolitan city like Mumbai. Although our experiment showed the possibility of toxic metal in the environment and this might cause harmful effects not only to the present but also to the future generations.