Hexavalent Chromium Pollution Effects

Chromium pollution has a major impact on the environment and restoring contaminated soil is difficult.

In August 2011, ” a factory called Luliang Chemicals in Yunnan had dumped 5,000 tonnes of toxic chromium tailings on a hillside in the township of Yuezhou. The resulting water pollution killed fish and livestock, endangered the drinking water of tens of millions of people”[1].

According to Dong , the concentration of hexavalent chromium was 2,000 times over the limit[1]. Water containing hexavalent chromium was flowing directly into nearby river where is a drinking water source.
Chromium is kind of heavy metal pollution. Its chemicla state of +6 is named hexavalent chromium which is identified as carcinogenic by the International Agency

Water contaminated with chromium will not build up in fish when consumed, but will accumulate on the gills, thus, causing negative health effects for aquatic animals. Chromium uptake results in increased mortality rates in fish due to contamination[2].
Hexavalent chromium cause cancers.EPA has classified chromium (VI) as a Group A, known human carcinogen by the inhalation route of exposure. Exposure to Cr(VI) may cause the lung cancer in who breathe airborne Cr(VI) [3].
Hexavalent chromium also causes sinonasal cancers. Five IARC-reviewed studies of chromium production workers in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, chromate pigment production workers in Norway, and chromium platers in the United Kingdom . IARC concluded that the findings represented a “pattern of excess risk” for these rare cancers and in 2009 concluded there is limited evidence for human cancers of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses from exposure to Cr(VI) compounds Subsequent mortality studies of chromium or chromate production workers employed in New Jersey from 1937 through 1971 and in the United Kingdom from 1950 through 1976 reported significant excesses of deaths from nasal and sinus

Chinadialogue, On Yunnan’s chromium trail [Online] Available:https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4493-On-Yunnan-s-chromium-trail [assessed 18 Oct]
2. The National Association of Geoscience Teachers,Chromium and its negative effects on the environment[online] Available:http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/chromium.html[assessed 18 Oct]
3. US Environmental Protection Agency, Chromium Compounds Hazard Summary[online] Available:http://www3.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/chromium.html[assessed 18 Oct]
4. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES ,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Criteria for a Recommended Standard Occupational Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium[Online] Available:http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2013-128/pdfs/2013_128.pdf[assesed 18 Oct]
5. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Hexavalent Chromium [Online] Available:https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA-3373-hexavalent-chromium.pdf[online]
6. Oregon Occupational Safety & Health Division, Hexavalent Chromium, [online] Available:http://www.cbs.state.or.us/osha/pdf/pubs/fact_sheets/fs20.pdf[assessed 18