What makes the heavy metals: cadmium, mercury, lead, and arsenic so dangerous compared to other materials. If I work with iron and silver every day for 30 years I have a bad back. If I work with mercury every day for 30 years I’m either insane (“mad as a hatter”) or literally dead. What makes these 4 elements so bad for living things, and why are poisonings with these elements so hard to cure?
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Your body has a tendency to “bio-accumulate” heavy metal. All this means is that it collects in your body and it has no way of getting out. So many small doses of something like mercury could over time build up to dangerous levels. This is also why mercury levels tend to be high is some animal meats like Tuna. Small amounts of mercury get into little fish. Those little fish get eaten by bigger fish, which in turn get eaten by bigger fish, etc. When you get up to the Tuna it can collect a lot more mercury than it could get out the water alone.
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