Egypt. J. Vet. Sci. Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 379-385 (2021) 43 Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Sciences https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/ Corresponding author: Mohammadreza Nazer, E.mail: dr_nazer@yahoo.com. (Received 05/07/2021; accepted 31/07/2021) DOI. 10.21608/ejvs.2021.83716.1245 ©2021 National Information and Documentation Centre (NIDOC) Introduction Recently, marine product consumption has increased due to increasing public awareness of their health effects and nutritional value [1]. Fish and seafood are now recognized as important sources of protein for human health [2]. In addition, fsh and seafood are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, minerals, vitamins and are healthy and essential foods in human nutrition [2, 3]. Marine pollution can have negative effects on marine Potential Harmful Effects of Heavy Metals as a Toxic and Carcino- Genic Agent in Marine Food-An Overview Samira Negahdari 1 , Mohammad Sabaghan 2 , Mohadeseh Pirhadi 3 , Mahsa Alikord 3 , Parisa Sadighara 3 , Mohammad Darvishi 4,5 , Mohammadreza Nazer 6* 1 Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Ahvaz, Iran 2 Behbahan Faculty of Medical Sciences, Behbahan, Iran 3 Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Division of Food Safety & Hygiene, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4 Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicinal Research Center (IDTMRC), AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 5 Department of Aerospace and Subaquatic Medicine, AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 6 Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran T HE survival of organisms is threatened with a variety of pollutants and chemical com- pounds and population growth. Natural phenomena and human activities, especially industrial activities increase contamination of water, soil and air. Population growth leads to increased exploitation of the sea and oceans, thus the consumption of seafood increases. In addition, the main food of the people in some areas is fsh. Consumption of fsh has numer- ous benefts to healthy for humans, but the existence of some heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and etc. may cause toxicity to marine organisms. The degree of heavy metal toxicity depends on their chemical form of metals. Some forms of metals are rapidly excreted and do not have the opportunity to be absorbed and stored in body tissues, accordingly they are not very toxic, while some forms of metals are highly toxic and lethal. These forms are slowly excreted from metals and have the ability to be absorbed and accumulated in fsh muscles and other organs. Heavy metals cause harmful effects such as carcinogenesis, malformations, damage to the nervous system, damage to the reproductive system and infertility in men, liver failure and cardiovascular disease and so on. Therefore, in this review focused on concentration of heavy metals in fsh muscle is essential to ensure the safety of this type of food. Keywords: Heavy metals, Marine, Fish, Safety, Toxic, Carcinogenic, Toxicity. life. In other words, the presence of hazardous chemical pollutants such as heavy metals in marine environments has damaged biodiversity, ecosystems and caused concern around the world [1, 4]. Exposure of marine organisms to heavy metals is problematic even at low amount of heavy metals in seawater, because these metals accumulate in the body of aquatic organisms and are transported to the human and other animal