Which pollution causes Itai-Itai disease in human beings?
- A.Mercury pollution
- B.Cadmium pollution
- C.Arsenic pollution
- D.Nitrate pollution
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, Cadmium pollution. Itai-itai disease is long-term cadmium poisoning, first noticed around 1912 in the Toyama region of Japan, where mines upstream released cadmium into the Jinzu river and it built up in the rice and water used by villagers. Cadmium damages the kidneys and makes bones soft and brittle, so patients suffered repeated fractures and severe pain in the spine and joints; the name means it hurts, it hurts in Japanese. It became one of the four big pollution diseases of Japan. Option A is wrong because mercury pollution causes Minamata disease, also from Japan, which spread through eating fish from a bay polluted with methylmercury. Option C is wrong because arsenic in groundwater causes arsenicosis, with skin lesions and cancers, as seen in West Bengal and Bangladesh. Option D is wrong because too much nitrate in drinking water causes blue baby syndrome, or methaemoglobinaemia, in infants. Exam tip: cadmium–itai-itai, mercury–Minamata, nitrate–blue baby, fluoride–fluorosis.
Practice Questions
View allWhich one of the following is not included in the National Air Quality Index?
- A.Sulphur
- B.Nitrogen dioxide
- C.Lead
- D.Methane
Show answer
Methane is not one of the pollutants used to calculate India's National Air Quality Index. The National Air Quality Index was launched in 2014 under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and is run by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements about the National Green Tribunal is not correct?
- A.It was set up in the year 2010.
- B.It is involved in effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests.
- C.It may consider giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property.
- D.It is bound by the procedures laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Show answer
The National Green Tribunal is not bound by the Code of Civil Procedure; it is guided by the principles of natural justice.
Read the full explanation →Consider the following statements about National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) of India for 2017-2031:
1. This is the Third National Wildlife Action Plan.
2. The NWAP is unique as this is the first time India has recognized the concerns relating to climate change impact on wildlife.
3. The NWAP has ten components.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- A.1 only
- B.1 and 2 only
- C.2 and 3 only
- D.1, 2 and 3
Show answer
The plan for 2017-2031 is India's third National Wildlife Action Plan and the first to deal with the impact of climate change on wildlife, but it has five components, not ten.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following methods is not suitable for urban rainwater harvesting?
- A.Rooftop recharge pit
- B.Recharge wells
- C.Gully plug
- D.Recharge trench
Show answer
A gully plug is a small check structure built across a natural gully or stream channel in hilly and rural land, so it has no place in a city.
Read the full explanation →The city of Cartagena, which is famous for Protocol on Biosafety, is located in
- A.Colombia
- B.Venezuela
- C.Brazil
- D.Guyana
Show answer
Cartagena is a port city on Colombia's Caribbean coast, where talks on the biosafety protocol were held in 1999. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992.
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