This review article analysed mercury concentrations and risks across media in Pakistan from data published between 1991 and 2021 in 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications. The possible non-carcinogenic health risk (hazard quotient) of Hg was assessed in soil, water, and fish. High risks were calculated for seafood and vegetable consumption, while low risks were estimated for soils and groundwater ingestion and exposure. Overall, children showed higher risks than adults. Last, the risk quotient analysis (RQ) revealed significant risks for aquatic species. RQs showed that multiple species, especially those with smaller resilience, could face long-term detrimental impacts. High, medium, and low risks were calculated from 66.66, 16.17, and 16.17% of the reported Hg concentrations.
Vanadium is part of many industries and products, and its use has increased significantly over the last two decades. Our research gathered information from over 250 articles and found that the concentration of vanadium in marine organisms has similar trends to worldwide use and production of vanadium. Here, we further investigated multiple characteristics of vanadium in coastal ecosystems (sediment, water, biota) and its ecological and health risks. There is a need further to explore the hazards and toxicity of this metal and set new guidelines to protect aquatic species that, from the available data and reported concentrations, are likely to be at risk under our SSD analysis. Vanadium is a rarely investigated heavy metal despite similarities with other traditional elements like arsenic or mercury. Nonetheless, it has gained significant importance in our society, whereby it is essential to control and monitor its occurrence and distribution.