ABSTRACT
Soils and waters with high levels of toxic metals such as cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury are detrimental to human and environmental health. Toxic heavy metals contaminate soils and waters in industrialized nations as well as in developing nations. The four heavy metals arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium have been identified as belonging to the five priority most hazardous substances found at toxic Superfund sites in the United States (1). Many human disorders have been attributed to ingestion of heavy metals including learning disabilities in children, dementia, and increased rates of cancer in response to cadmium (Cd) (2,3). Removal of heavy metals from highly contaminated soils and waters is therefore a very costly but necessary process that is currently being pursued at contaminated sites worldwide.
