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The levels of pollution by heavy metals and arsenic in top soil layers and medicinal plant raw materials in Voronezh Region were studied using Urtica dioica and Plantago major leaves as examples. The analyses were carried out using atomic absorption spectrometry on a graphite-furnace MGA-915MD spectrometer. Samples were collected from districts with different anthropogenic impacts across the whole region. Leaves of P. major characteristically had the highest coefficients of accumulation from the soil for Cd, As, and Ni. Leaves of U. dioica typically had high accumulation coefficients for Ni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]