Trace Elements in Medicine (Moscow)
2016, 17(3): 14-18
TOPICAL PAPER

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON PUBLIC HEALTH (REVIEW)

E.V. Salnikova

Orenburg State University, Pobedy ave. 13, Orenburg 460018, Russia

DOI: 10.19112/2413-6174-2016-17-3-14-18 

ABSTRACT. The review considers regions and cities with high levels of environmental pollution. The main sources of pollution are the chemical and petrochemical industries, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy and others. One of the regions with significant anthropogenic pressure is the Southern Urals. It was revealed from the literature that the highest level of pollution is observed in seven cities in Russia with large industrial enterprises. Three of them have smelters (Kamensk-Uralsky, Bratsk and Shelekhov), three – Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil and Cherepovets – are featured by steel industry, and one city, Orsk, now is featured by a non-ferrous metallurgy complex. This causes strong environmental pollution with certain toxic and conditionally toxic chemical elements including heavy metals. Alterations of chemical elements content in the system «water - soil - plant - animal» lead to changes in their content in human biosubstrates. It was shown that adverse changes are reflected in the health status of the population. It is necessary to conduct studies of mass population above mentioned cities for the purpose of early detection of health abnormalities and timely implementation of measures for prevention.

KEYWORDS: environment, pollution, biogeochemical province, human health, heavy metals.