TOXICO-PATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF HEAVY METALS ON GOAT VISCERAL ORGANS IN PAKISTAN: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Abstract

The accumulation of dangerous heavy metals in the body of food producing animals is an increasing health issue of concern worldwide and more particularly in low and middle income countries like Pakistan. This review will look at the available literature on the absorption and retention of different  toxic elements in the internal organs of goats, which forms an important part of the livestock industry in the country. Goats often consume polluted soil, vegetation and water in regions of industrial discharge, mining, and irrigation of untreated wastewater because of their free-ranging feeding behavior. The liver and kidneys are the organs in which metal deposition is the greatest, and in which the pathological conditions of cell degeneration, tissue death, and disrupted organ functions are observed. Some investigations carried out in other cities in Pakistan reported metal levels that habitually exceeded internationally advised safety limits. In terms of public health, the results are frightening, because chronic food contamination with chromium and mercury already surpasses the safe daily exposure levels of these elements in adults, with liver being the most severe threat to the consumers. Those gaps in knowledge are significant, as there are few studies that focus on more than one organ, long-term observations are not conducted, and geographical coverage is not complete. The future directions are to design country-wide surveillance systems, use sensitive analysis techniques like atomic absorption spectroscopy, and determine risk characterization in detail by using species-specific exposure indices. It is necessary to develop national regulatory limits to safeguard human health against metal contamination that is produced in the livestock production chain