Most heavy metals are essential trace elements for human body, but heavy metal pollution has become a major environmental problem threatening human development. Excessive heavy metals pose a great threat to human body: they have anti-fertility ability, hinder the normal development of embryos, affect the normal growth of children, and threaten the health of adults, seriously limiting the health and sustainable development of the population.
Long-term environmental lead exposure can lead to the deposition of lead in human tissues, especially in bones, teeth, kidneys and brain. Many studies have revealed that subclinical lead exposure is related to children's behavior and intelligence. Children's long-term exposure to low concentrations of lead can lead to changes in behavioral functions, such as simulated learning difficulties, decreased spatial comprehensive ability, dyskinesia, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, decreased attention, increased aggression and decreased IQ. Lead is a strong neurotropic substance, and its neurotoxicity is obviously earlier than that of other organ systems. At the same time, the lead concentration that causes behavioral function damage is significantly lower than that required for cell damage and morphological changes.
What about heavy metal poisoning?
1, termination of toxic contact
Evacuate the polluted environment; Take off the contaminated clothes and rinse the contaminated skin repeatedly with clear water; Clean the mouth; Rinse the polluted eyes repeatedly with normal saline.
2. Remove poisons
After the patient's vital signs are stable, vomiting, gastric lavage, activated carbon adsorption, catharsis or total intestinal lavage are given to remove the unabsorbed poisons in the gastrointestinal tract.
Patients with lead poisoning can be given gastric lavage with magnesium sulfate or sodium sulfate solution to form insoluble lead and reduce absorption;
For patients with acute thallium poisoning, 1% sodium iodide can be taken orally to make thallium become insoluble and blunt, so as to reduce gastrointestinal absorption;
For patients with corrosive heavy metal poisoning such as mercury and manganese, egg white, milk or rice soup can be taken orally to protect gastric mucosa;
After gastric lavage, patients with arsenic poisoning can take orally ferrous hydroxide antidote, which can form insoluble complex ferric arsenate with arsenic and reduce absorption.
It should be noted that patients should be evaluated before vomiting and gastric lavage, and they should be alert to the occurrence of aspiration, gastrointestinal bleeding and gastrointestinal perforation, especially in the case of toxic heavy metals such as mercury and manganese.
3. Anti-shock and detoxification
Anti-shock treatment, correct hypotension, correct water-electrolyte imbalance. According to the central venous pressure, rehydration (crystal solution and/or fusion or colloid solution) is given, and booster drugs are given when necessary to adjust blood pressure; Apply special antidote as soon as possible.
How to prevent heavy metal poisoning
1 Due to the spread of pollution, shellfish and marine fish have become the largest sources of heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, so if you eat seafood for a long time, it will lead to the accumulation of toxic and harmful substances such as heavy metals in your body and endanger your health. Therefore, it is best not to eat more than one kind of seafood every day, and the quantity should not exceed100g; Try to eat small seafood. Large seafood is at the higher level of the food chain, and there are more pollutants in the body; Do not eat or eat less fish head, skin, viscera, fish eggs and shark's fin.
2. Traditional Chinese medicine has always been known for its gentleness and small side effects. Therefore, some people take traditional Chinese medicine as a daily supplement, so they have nothing to drink. However, the purpose of some traditional Chinese medicines is to fight poison with poison, but the toxicity is low. For example, realgar and cinnabar, which are common in traditional Chinese medicine, contain mercury and realgar contain arsenic. Long-term and large-scale use of cinnabar and realgar can lead to the accumulation of heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic in the human body, so they must be used with caution.
3. It is easier to deposit heavy metals in the internal organs of animals, because poultry are all fed by industrial feed, which is uncertain. Once unsafe food is eaten by animals, such as the feed eaten by animals, if the drinking water is polluted by heavy metals such as cadmium, it must be metabolized by the internal organs, and some harmful substances such as heavy metals will be deposited in the internal organs.
4. The can is made of aluminum alloy, and the inner wall of the can is coated with a layer of organic paint to isolate the aluminum alloy from the beverage. In the process of processing some unqualified aluminum cans, it is very likely that some places are not coated with protective coatings or are coated too thin, resulting in contact between aluminum alloy on the inner wall of the cans and beverages. Over time, aluminum gradually melts into it, especially when the beverage in the can is acidic or alkaline. According to the investigation of 22 kinds of drinks by researchers, the aluminum content in cans is 3 ~ 6 times higher than that in bottles.
5. In food packaging, there are also some potential dangers. Due to printing quality problems, lead in some packaging ink will "pollute" food. For example, the tube used to hold popcorn, the paper bag used to wrap "baked cakes with dirt and dregs" and "steamed buns with meat" on the street.
6. Stainless steel tableware and ceramic tableware that people use daily are also important sources of heavy metal pollution. In order to prevent rust, stainless steel tableware will contain a certain amount of chromium and nickel. If the coating on the surface of tableware is damaged, chromium and nickel will precipitate. However, the colored patterns printed on the glaze of ceramic tableware contain a certain amount of lead.