Copper, manganese, cobalt, nickel. Harmful to eat plants grown in soils rich in these metals?

Question

This is a purely hypothetical situation. I am writing fiction, so please do not tell me about 'proper' nutrition, etc.

Assuming that we have NO OTHER OPTION but to grow food crops in soils rich in these metals and NO OTHER food crops available, how harmful/dangerous is it to eat plants that have grown in soils rich in these metals? Are any of them NOT necessary trace nutrients? Are they easily eliminated from the body? What sort of toxicity levels can be expected? How long can people eat the crops before symptoms develop? Is it likely that those symptoms would be noticed by medically UNTRAINED personel...?

Relative to toxicity and elimination from the body, if other food crops free of those metals (also lacking in necessary nutrients) were available, comment on the possibility of alternating the consumption of metal rich crops and the metal poor crops and the ability of such a diet to sustain a degree of health.

Complicated question, but thanks for your patience, in advance.

Answer 1

Interesting topic. You need to do a lot of research and should among other things check out:

- RDA and symptoms of poisoning

Good sources will be the FDA and some good sites on Homeopathy (the later will have all the symptoms that may develop over long time from the use of these metals).

Answer 2

i have no idea about the ratio of metallic and non metallic plants. however, the mentioned metals are not easily excreted and poor health symptoms would present rather quickly.