"Itai Itai" disease spread was due to water contamination by which metal ?
MH SET - 2018, SET Exam - 2018,
Answer: C
Itai-itai disease was caused by cadmium.
In Toyama Prefecture, Japan, mining operations upstream released cadmium into the Jinzu River, whose water was used to irrigate rice fields. People who ate the contaminated rice and drank the water accumulated cadmium, which damaged their kidneys and softened their bones (osteomalacia), causing severe pain; 'itai-itai' means 'it hurts, it hurts'.
Mercury caused a different Japanese disaster, Minamata disease. Lead poisoning (plumbism) affects the nervous system and blood, and arsenic in groundwater causes arsenicosis, as in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
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