Which pollution causes Itai-Itai disease in human beings?
- (a)Mercury pollution
- (b)Cadmium pollution
- (c)Arsenic pollution
- (d)Nitrate pollution
Correct — B, Cadmium pollution. Itai-Itai disease (Japanese for 'it hurts, it hurts') resulted from cadmium-contaminated water used to irrigate rice paddies in Japan's Jinzu River basin; the metal accumulated in the body and caused severe bone pain, osteomalacia (bone softening), and kidney damage.
- (a)Mercury pollution — Causes Minamata disease — a neurological disorder — not Itai-Itai.
- (c)Arsenic pollution — Causes arsenicosis (skin lesions, and in severe cases gangrene), typically via contaminated groundwater — a different disease.
- (d)Nitrate pollution — Causes methemoglobinemia ('blue baby syndrome') in infants — unrelated to Itai-Itai.
Itai-Itai is a heavy-metal toxicity disease, not an infection — cadmium from mining runoff entered irrigation water, was taken up by rice, and accumulated in the bodies of people who ate it, damaging bones and kidneys. It is one of Japan's well-documented industrial-pollution diseases, alongside Minamata disease (mercury).
Exams test 'match the pollutant/metal to the disease it causes' — the trap is swapping cadmium and mercury, since both are heavy-metal industrial-pollution diseases first identified in Japan.
- Itai-Itai disease is caused by cadmium poisoning via contaminated irrigation water
- Symptoms: severe bone/joint pain, osteomalacia (bone softening), kidney damage
- First identified in Japan's Jinzu River basin (Toyama)
- Distinct from Minamata disease (mercury) and arsenicosis (arsenic)
Match the pollutant to the disease it causes.
- Swapping cadmium (Itai-Itai) with mercury (Minamata)
- Assuming it is an infectious or deficiency disease rather than a toxicity disease
Almost always a direct 'which metal/pollution causes disease X' factual pairing.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Minamata disease, a neurological disorder first identified in Japan, is caused by pollution from which metal?
- (a)Cadmium
- (b)Mercury
- (c)Arsenic
- (d)Lead
Answer(b) Mercury.
- practice — not a real PYQ
'Blue baby syndrome' (methemoglobinemia) in infants is most commonly linked to which water contaminant?
- (a)Nitrate
- (b)Fluoride
- (c)Cadmium
- (d)Arsenic
Answer(a) Nitrate.