Plants Bravely Fighting Metals

Silesia, i.e. the region of Poland which roughly dozen years ago was the most powerful industrial center in the country, is still struggling with residues of heavy metals, which are still present in the soil, water, mine waste dumps, and in the air – despite the fact that the number of polluting plants has been reduced and the use of appropriate filters, measures that have admittedly limited the emission of harmful substances into the environment, has been made obligatory. Metals will not disappear on their own; they are assimilated by plants, which animals feed on, and thus the “uninvited guests” are passed on. Humans are not spared by metals as well. The bare post-mining and post-production landfills around which housing estates are erected “endow” their residents with toxic dust. It turns out, however, that there are plant species which attach themselves to polluted areas and only exist where the concentration of heavy metals is high.