Toxic Metals in a Green

Overview

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Key numbers

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Around one-third of global rare-earth reserves are located in China, which produces 95% of the
substantial proportion of global lithium reserves, approximately 53%, are found in brines, defined
impacts among 99 artisanal gold miners in Paso Yobai, Paraguay, where 61.4% handled mercury
directly. Neurotoxic symptoms were prevalent, with 42.4% reporting memory disorders and
39.8% showing mild cognitive impairment on Mini Mental testing. Urinary mercury levels were
pollution, contributing over 38% of global emissions (15). Across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA),
miners and children having hair mercury levels of 10–15 mg/kg, which is far above the 1 mg/kg
In the Philippines, Jinky Leilanie Lu (University of the Philippines) showed that 8% of ASGM
miners had blood mercury levels above 15 µg/L, which require intervention according to the
with mean blood lead levels (BLLs) at 60.4 µg/L and urinary arsenic levels at 21.50 µg/L (18). Earlier
Andrea Kaifie-Pechmann (FAU Erlangen) presented that over 80% of e-waste workers had
Comprehensive studies in Kabwe revealed alarming BLLs in children, ranging from 33 to 1270 µg/L,
meaning that almost 100% of the children exceeded the 35 µg/L Centers for Disease Control and
in Goslar, Germany. In this study, 51% of the children screened had BLLs that exceeded the
German reference values; 24% surpassed the CDC threshold of 35 µg/L; and 13% exceeded
the WHO guidance level of 50 µg/L (see supplement AB John). These data demonstrate that the Bose-O’Reilly et al. 8
104 major cities. Their findings showed that 7% of turmeric samples exceeded the national limit
of 10 mg/kg for lead and contained elevated chromium, suggestive of adulteration with lead
chromate pigments. Some samples had lead levels over 8000 mg/kg, posing severe health risks.
Notably, 90% of the lead-containing samples were turmeric roots, suggesting that lead chromate
up 84% of total mercury and selenium levels in tuna correlated with mercury. Blood mercury Bose-O’Reilly et al. 9
5007 items across 25 LMICs: 51% of metal foodware, 45% of ceramic foodware, and 41% of
kg lead. As of January 2024, 48% of countries had legally binding controls limiting lead in new
paints, often adopting the 90 mg/kg standard. However, the study by Sargsyan et al. found that
raise blood levels above 700 µg/L (see supplement AB Velasco-Garrido).
80–120 µg/L among preschool children in urban slum areas of Jakarta, correlating with a 3–5 point
which is an e-waste dumpsite in Ghana, where 75% of children experienced confusion, 67.9% had
poor memory, and 66% had difficulty concentrating (18). Elevated levels of toxic metals, such as
lead (mean BLLs of 60.4 µg/L) and arsenic (mean urinary arsenic of 21.50 µg/L), were measured
Ghana, exposed individuals had BLLs >100 µg/L and some individuals presented renal disorders
where 36% and 42% of the study participants exhibited elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)
metals was indium where post-shift urinary concentrations were up to 3 µg/L in urine of exposed DOI: 10.5334/aogh.5214
(0.82 µg/L) and lead (190 µg/L), and elevated urinary cobalt (10.7 µg/g creatinine), germanium
(0.15 µg/L), and lead (9.51 µg/L). The miners had lower International Index of Erectile Function
dysfunction (aOR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.3–5.3) compared to non-exposed males (9) (see supplement AB
the mean Hb was 12.3 g/dL, with the prevalence of anemia being 23.4% (see supplement AB
Health is affected in multiple ways (see Table 1). A recurring theme from symposium presenters
Table 1 Summary of key toxic metals, main sources, and primary health effects.
of local economies (up to 90% in SSA countries) and societies have been structured around these
Table 2 Roadmap for mitigating toxic metal hazards.
1. Forsyth JE, Nurunnahar S, Islam SS, et al. Turmeric means “yellow” in Bengali: Lead chromate pigments

Methods (brief)

policy and governance challenges, and section “Roadmap for a Safe and Equitable Green
Transition” proposes a stepwise roadmap to safeguard communities while sustaining the mineral
with lead chromate throughout India. Expanding upon past efforts (30), her team collected over
4000 samples of spices, including turmeric, chili, cumin, coriander, and mango powder, from
104 major cities. Their findings showed that 7% of turmeric samples exceeded the national limit
chromate pigments. Some samples had lead levels over 8000 mg/kg, posing severe health risks.
Notably, 90% of the lead-containing samples were turmeric roots, suggesting that lead chromate
Pakistan, and others, over 10% of sampled paints still exceeded 90 mg/kg. These findings indicate
samples more affordable and actionable. However, exposure assessment remains inconsistent,
environmental exposure assessment that included advanced stable isotope mass spectrometry
and laser ablation mass spectrometry methods (see supplement AB Smith).
ROADMAP FOR A SAFE AND EQUITABLE GREEN TRANSITION
Based on the findings of the Toxic Metals Symposium held in July 2025 in Munich, this roadmap
Taken together, this roadmap (see Table 2) translates the symposium’s scientific insights
Table 2 Roadmap for mitigating toxic metal hazards.
of California) utilizing multi-media biomarkers and advanced mass spectrometry methods, are
is not merely a technical problem but a governance and equity challenge. The roadmap presented
This article proposes a multi-tiered roadmap to guide policymakers, industry leaders, researchers,

Implications

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
b01ec52c	2026-08-04	major	2 sections added
d49e450f	2026-08-03	major	5 sections added; narrative text revised