Heavy Metal Toxicity: Environmental Concerns, Remediation and Opportunities

This contributed volume covers a comprehensive account of the sources, toxic biological as well as environmental impacts, and possible remediation strategies for contamination by heavy metals. In biological systems, toxic metals affect the integrity of cellular organelles and act as carcinogens causing chromosomal aberrations or as systemic toxicants leading to cardiovascular, neurobehavioral, and immunological disorders. In plants, they interfere with photosynthesis, fertility, metabolite, and chlorophyll synthesis. Toxicity induced by heavy metals involves mechanistic approaches that need to be understood properly. They cannot be degraded by biological or chemical means and thus can only be converted to less harmful forms. The conventional detection methods include biosensors, voltammetry, atomic absorption spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma with atomic emission spectrometry. All such strategies for metal detection and mitigation strategies are covered in this title under one section.

This book incorporates classical views along with modern scientific approaches to develop an understanding of the subject matter suitable for academicians, researchers, planners, policymakers, NGOs, and environmental consultancies and raise awareness on this concern. Topics representing diverse sections namely environmental impacts, biological effects, and methods used for detection and remediation have been included to address all possible contemporary issues on the topic in one concise volume. 

Dr. Rajeev Pratap Singh works in the area of waste management and has worked on various kinds of wastes, i.e., fly ash, sewage sludge, tannery sludge, palm oil mill waste, contaminated water irrigation, etc. He has many publications in reputed journals on waste management and similar topics. He has been honored with several international awards including “Green Talent” Award from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany; Prosper.Net Scopus Young Scientist Award; DST Young Scientist Award; and Water Advanced Research and Innovation (WARI) Fellowship, a fellowship supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), and the Robert Daugherty Water for Food Institute (DWFI). He has coauthored 4 books and more than 40 highly cited research and review articles on solid waste management.

Dr. Amrita Srivastava holds PhD from the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University and works at Central University of South Bihar, Gaya. She works in the area of microbial secondary metabolite applications. Her major interest is in the characterization of microbial secondary metabolites called siderophores. Recently, she has started working on heavy metal stress, specifically arsenic and cadmium stress. The focus of her work lies in the extraction and purification of microbial secondary metabolite siderophores and their application for heavy metal mitigation in crops, bioremediation, and various symbiotic/antibiotic interactions mediated by them. This includes antifungal and anticancer properties of siderophore and physiological effects on plants and other microbes. She has published 23 research and review articles in journals of international repute, edited 1 book, and authored over 13 book chapters.

Dr. Pooja Singh holds a PhD from the School of Industrial Technology, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia; an MSc (Biotechnology) from Devi Ahilya University, Indore; and an MTech in Biotechnology from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, MP. She is currently a faculty member at ICST, SHEPA, Varanasi. Her current research interests include enzymes, biopulping of oil palm biomass, and vermicomposting using various types of wastes. She has published 18 papers in various reputed international journals, 5 book chapters, and 1 edited book.