• Ali H, Khan E (2018) What are heavy metals? Long-standing controversy over the scientific use of the term ‘heavy metals’—proposal of a comprehensive definition. Toxicol Environ Chem 100(1):6–19.https://doi.org/10.1080/02772248.2017.1413652

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Alloway BJ (2013) Heavy metals in soils—trace metals and metalloids in soils and their bioavailability, 3rd edn. Springer, Heidelberg, p 614.

• Antoniadis V, Shaheen SM, Levizou E, Shahid M, Niazi NK, Vithanage M, Ok YS, Bolan N, Rinklebe J (2019) A critical prospective analysis of the potential toxicity of trace element regulation limits in soils worldwide: Are they protective concerning health risk assessment?—A review. Environ Int 127:819–847.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2019.03.039

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Appenroth K-J (2010) What are “heavy metals” in plant sciences? Acta Physiol Plant 32(4):615–619.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-009-0455-4

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Batley GE (2012) “Heavy metal”—a useful term. Integr Environ Assess Manag 8(2):215–215.https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1290

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Belkhiri L, Mouni L, Sheikhy Narany T, Tiri A (2017) Evaluation of potential health risk of heavy metals in groundwater using the integration of indicator kriging and multivariate statistical methods. Groundw Sustain Dev 4:12–22.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsd.2016.10.003

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Bhat UN, Khan AB (2011) Heavy metals: an ambiguous category of inorganic contaminants, nutrients and toxins. Res J Environ Sci 5:682–690.https://doi.org/10.3923/rjes.2011.682.690

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Chapman PM (2007) Heavy metal - Music, not science. Environ Sci Technol 41(12):6C

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Chapman PM (2012) “Heavy metal”—cacophony, not symphony. Integr Environ Assess Manag 8(2):216.https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.1289

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Chivers PT (2014) Chapter 14 Cobalt and Nickel. In: Binding, Transport and Storage of Metal Ions in Biological Cells, The Royal Society of Chemistry, pp 381–428.

• Duffus JH (2002) “Heavy metals” a meaningless term? (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure Appl Chem 74:793–807.https://doi.org/10.1351/pac200274050793

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Ghibaudi E (2019) Levi’s Periodic system vs. Mendeleev’s Periodic System: two engaged views of chemistry between science and literature. Pure Appl Chem 91 (12):1941–1947.https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2019-0604.

• Gupta A (2020) Heavy metal and metalloid contamination of surface and underground water. CRC Press, Boca Raton, p 278.

• Hodson ME (2004) Heavy metals—geochemical bogey men? Environ Pollut 129(3):341–343.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2003.11.003

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Hübner R, Astin KB, Herbert RJH (2010) ’Heavy metal’-time to move on from semantics to pragmatics? J Environ Monit 12(8):1511–1514.https://doi.org/10.1039/C0EM00056F

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Irawan DE (2020) Keep heavy metal for music not science. Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4134463

• Lambers H, Oliveira RS (2019) Plant physiological ecology. Springer, Heidelberg, p 736.

• Madrid L (2010) “Heavy metals”: reminding a long-standing and sometimes forgotten controversy. Geoderma 155(1):128–129.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2009.11.031

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Nieboer E, Richardson DHS (1980) The replacement of the nondescript term 'heavy metals' by a biologically and chemically significant classification of metal ions. Environ Pollut B Chem Phys 1(1):3–26.https://doi.org/10.1016/0143-148X(80)90017-8.

• Nikinmaa M, Schlenk D (2010) Uses of phrases. Aquat Toxicol 97(1):1–2.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2010.02.015

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Pourret O (2018) On the necessity of banning the term "heavy metal" from the scientific literature. Sustainability (Switzerland) 10 (8).https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082879.

• Pourret O, Bollinger JC (2018) “Heavy metal”—What to do now: To use or not to use? Sci Total Environ 610–611:419–420.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.043

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Pourret O, Hursthouse A (2019) It's Time to Replace the Term "Heavy Metals" with "Potentially Toxic Elements" When Reporting Environmental Research. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16 (22).https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224446.

• Pourret O, Bollinger J-C, van Hullebusch ED (2020) On the difficulties of being rigorous in environmental geochemistry studies: some recommendations for designing an impactful paper. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27(2):1267–1275.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06835-y

  Article  Google Scholar 

• Wagman JB, Zimmerman C, Sorric C (2007) “Which feels heavier—a pound of lead or a pound of feathers?” A potential perceptual basis of a cognitive riddle. Perception 36(11):1709–1711.https://doi.org/10.1068/p5854

  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references