Editing Toxic heavy metal (section)

== Controversial terminology ==
The [[International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry]] (IUPAC), which standardizes nomenclature, says the term “heavy metals''”'' is both meaningless and misleading".{{sfn|Duffus|2002}} The IUPAC report focuses on the legal and toxicological implications of describing "heavy metals" as toxins when there is no scientific evidence to support a connection. The density implied by the adjective "heavy"  has almost no biological consequences and pure metals are rarely the biologically active substance.{{sfn|Duffus|2002|p=795}}
This characterization has been  echoed by numerous reviews.{{sfn|Ali|Khan|2018}} {{sfn|Nieboer|Richardson|1980}}{{sfn|Baldwin|Marshall|1999}} The most widely used toxicology textbook, ''Casarett and Doull’s toxicology''{{sfn|Goyer|Clarkson|1996|p=839}} uses "toxic metal" not "heavy metals".{{sfn|Duffus|2002|p=795}} Nevertheless many scientific and science related articles continue to use "heavy metal" as a term for toxic substances.{{sfn|Pourret|Bollinger|Hursthouse|2021}}