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In: Planetary Science
Many heavy metals are toxic for living organisms; the reasons for this are multiple but they will typically interfere with biological processes or take the place of other elements in vital compounds. These metals typically occur in small quantities in nature, but human activities may gather large quantities of these and contaminate the environment, causing health issues to the organismes exposed, and possibly having some long term effects by killing fragile species which may be key to their ecosystem, unbalancing it. They also have a tendency to stick around, meaning that contaminated ground may stay contaminated for a very long time (and these elements never stop being toxic).
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