Natalya Polishchuk

1
Arsenic A Global Poison

• Natalya Polishchuk
• Chi Vuong

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Arsenic

• Elemental metalloid, solid, steel gray
• Considered Inorganic- combined with O, S, and Cl.
  Organic-combined with C and H. Some organic
  forms less harmful than inorganic forms.
• Forms white or colorless, odorless, and does not
  evaporate.
• Uses metal alloys, semiconductors, auto
  batteries, pressure treating wood, mining,
  fertilizer and insecticides of the past

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Arsenic in the Environment

• Widely distributed in Earths crust (3.4 ppm),
  naturally occurring, volcanic eruptions.
• Compounds can dissolve in water and become
  airborne during natural processes and mining and
  smelting of ores, burning of coal etc.
• Can build up in fish and shellfish tissue but
  less harmful form.

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Toxicology- Means and Measures of Exposure

• Most exposure is from naturally contaminated
  water or soil. Common concentrations
• Natural Surface and Groundwater- 1-1000 ppb
• 80 of drinking water in the U.S.- 2ppb
• MCL- 10ppb
• Soil- 1-40 ppm
• Air- 1-2,000 nanog/m3
• Food- 20-140 ppb
• Latency of signs and symptoms of up to ten years.
• CDC Report Maximum Risk Levels
• 0.005 mg/Kg/day for acute (14 day) oral exposure
  to inorganic arsenic
• 0.0003 mg/Kg/day for chronic duration (365 days
  or more) oral exposure to inorganic arsenic.

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Toxicology- Health Effects

• Damages bodys natural ability to repair DNA
  worsening effects of exposure to other toxins
  such as cigarette smoke.
• Can affect cognitive development in children.
• Long-term exposure blackened hands and feet,
  open sores, gangrene, skin lesions
• Carcinogen bladder, lungs, liver, kidney

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Pictures
Source Bulletin of World Health Organization
2000
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Areas in the World Affected

• At least 70 countries, including the US.
• India, West Bengal, Mongolia, Mexico
• Most egregious in Bangladesh.
• 150 million people estimated to have chronic
  exposure

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Source Medical Geology Research Case 2007
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Public Health Concern USA

• Areas in US high in As concentration in the
  geologic formations and with a high use in
  private wells which are not regulated by the EPA.
• National Priority Lists maintained by the EPA
  finds As in 50 of its 1662 sites. (CDC)
• Rice grown in former cotton fields contains 1.76
  times as much As as that from CA

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Focus Bangladesh

• One of the worlds poorest countries, with the
  most people affected by the contamination.
• Naturally occurring in groundwater.
• Most people drink from wells.
• Rice paddies are irrigated with contaminated
  water.

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Focus Bangladesh
Source World Health Bulletin 2000
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Conclusions and Recommendations

• Most crucial Reduce arsenic exposure
• Determine the geology of rocks before attempting
  to build wells.
• Cheap solutions rusty nails and coal ash as
  filters

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Conclusions and Recommendations

• Folic acid reduced blood arsenic levels by 14
  percent in a 200 chronically-exposed person study
  in Bangladesh by U. S. National Institute of
  Environmental Health Sciences.
• Found in leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, whole
  grains, beans
• Can be taken in pill form or added to flour
• Selenium and Vitamin E also show promise

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References

• Arsenic, Drinking Water, and DNA. Environment,
  Jul/Aug2006, Vol. 48 Issue 6, p6-7, 2p
• Carol Potera (2007). U.S. Rice Serves Up
  Arsenic. Environmental Health Perspectives, 115(6)
  , A296.  Retrieved October 11, 2007, from
  Research Library database. (Document
  ID 1294813541).
•  FOLIC ACID LOWERS BLOOD ARSENIC LEVELS IN
  BANGLADESH. (2007, October 10). US Fed News
  Service, Including US State News,insert
  pages.  Retrieved October 11, 2007, from
  Research Library database. (Document ID
  1362264571).
• Jorge L Rosado,  Dolores Ronquillo,  Katarzyna
  Kordas,  Olga Rojas,  et al. (2007). Arsenic
  Exposure and Cognitive Performance in Mexican
  Schoolchildren. Environmental Health
  Perspectives, 115(9), 1371-1375.  Retrieved
  October 11, 2007, from Research Library database.
  (Document ID 1337615821).
• Samuel Loewenberg (2007). Scientists tackle water
  contamination in Bangladesh. The
  Lancet, 370(9586), 471-472.  Retrieved October
  11, 2007, from Research Library database.
  (Document ID 1322000641).
• Steven H Lamm,  Zhen-Dong Luo,  Fu-Bao Bo, 
  Ge-You Zhang,  et al. (2007). An Epidemiologic
  Study of Arsenic-Related Skin Disorders and Skin
  Cancer and the Consumption of Arsenic-Contaminated
  Well Waters in Huhhot, Inner Mongolia,
  China. Human and Ecological Risk
  Assessment, 13(4), 713-746.  Retrieved October
  11, 2007, from Research Library database.
  (Document ID 1320453431).
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  Toxicological Profile for Arsenic. Sept. 2005.
  Downloaded October 11, 2007 from www.cdc.gov.
• http//www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issu
  e9/bu0751.pdf
• http//socrates.berkeley.edu/asrg/00SmithContamDW
  Bngldsh.pdf
• Gijsbert B Van der Voet,nbsp Robert B Finkelman
  (2007). Global Impacts Of Geogenic Arsenic A
  Medical Geology Research Case. Retrieved October
  11, 2007, from Research Library database.
  (Document IDnbsp1246377391).

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Questions

• No man (woman) is an island
• John Donne