Arsenic calamity in the Indian subcontinent What lessons have been learned?

Chakraborti, Dipankar; Rahman, Mohammad Mahmudur; Paul, Kallol; Chowdhury, Uttam Kumar; Sengupta, Mainak; Lodh, Dilip; Chanda, C. R.; Saha, Kashinath; Mukherjee, Susmita

doi:10.1016/s0039-9140(02)00270-9

Cited by 418 publications

(202 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…3 A strong relationship between arsenic level in water with the prevalence of keratosis and hyperpigmentation in the exposed individuals has been reported earlier. 4 Long-term exposure to arsenic-contaminated water causes a wide range of adverse health effects, including skin pigmentations, keratosis, vascular diseases, conjunctivitis in the eyes, neuropathy, lung diseases and nonmelanocytic cancer of skin and different internal organs.…”

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confidence: 65%

Cytogenetic damage and genetic variants in the individuals susceptible to arsenic‐induced cancer through drinking water

Ghosh

Basu

Mahata

et al. 2006

Intl Journal of Cancer

113

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In West Bengal, India, more than 300,000 arsenic-exposed people are showing symptoms of arsenic toxicity, which include cancers of skin and different internal organs. Since only 15-20% of the exposed population manifest arsenic-induced skin lesions, it is thought that genetic variation might play an important role in arsenic toxicity and carcinogenicity. A total of 422 unrelated arsenic-exposed subjects (244 skin-symptomatic and 178 asymptomatic) were recruited for this study. Cytogenetic damage, as measured by chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes and micronuclei formation in oral mucosa cells, urothelial cells and binucleated lymphocytes, was studied in unexposed, skin-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals with similar socioeconomic status. Identification of null mutations in GSTT1 and GSTM1 genes were carried out by PCR amplification. GSTP1 SNPs, implicated in susceptibility to various cancers, were assessed by PCR-RFLP method. Symptomatic individuals had higher level of cytogenetic damage compared to asymptomatic individuals and asymptomatic individuals had significantly higher genotoxicity than unexposed individuals. No difference in allelic variants in GSTT1 and GSTP1 was observed between these 2 groups. Incidence of GSTM1 null gene frequencies was significantly higher in the asymptomatic group. Individuals with GSTM1-positive (at least one allele) had significantly higher risk of arsenic-induced skin lesions (odds ratio, 1.73; 95% confidence interval, 1.24-2.22). These results show a protective role of GSTM1 null in arsenic toxicity. This study also indicates that asymptomatic individuals are sub clinically affected and are also significantly susceptible to arsenicinduced genotoxicity. ' 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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confidence: 65%

Cytogenetic damage and genetic variants in the individuals susceptible to arsenic‐induced cancer through drinking water

Ghosh

Basu

Mahata

et al. 2006

Intl Journal of Cancer

113

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“…The region, while being among the maximally affected zones of the country due to arsenic pollution (Chakraborti et al 2002), is greatly involved in agriculture, particularly in the cultivation of O. sativa and C. capsularis. The agricultural system in this region is mostly dependent on irrigation with arsenic contaminated groundwater obtained from a depth ranging from 70 ft. to 600 ft. through tube-wells.…”

Section: Site Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chakraborti and his group analyzed over 1,25,000 water samples for studying arsenic contamination in the Bengal basin and reported that arsenic levels in the affected areas of the basin vary between <1 and 1300 mg/l (Chakraborti et al 2002(Chakraborti et al , 2004 (Duxbury and Panaullah 2007). Rice is much more efficient at assimilating arsenic into its grain than other staple cereal crops (Williams et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trend of Arsenic Pollution and Subsequent Bioaccumulation in <i>Oryza sativa</i> and <i>Corchorus capsularis</i> in Bengal Delta

Bhattacharya

Guha

Gupta³

et al. 2014

ILNS

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Oryza sativa Linn. (rice) and Corchorus capsularis Linn. (jute) are the two major crops of the Bengal basin. Both rice and jute are generally grown in submerged flooded conditions, where arsenic bioavailability is high in soil. The consumers of the edible parts from both plants therefore face an inevitable source of exposure to arsenic, with consequent accumulation and toxicity. The objective of the study was to observe the in-vivo temporal variation of arsenic bioaccumulation in the different parts of O. sativa and C. capsularis. Rice plant specimens (Aman rice, Ratna variety) of different age groups (1, 2 and 3 months old) were analyzed in HG-AAS for absorbed arsenic content in different parts. The accumulation of arsenic remained significantly high in the initial phase of growth, but decreased with time. Amount of arsenic bioaccumulation followed the decreasing order: root > basal stem > median stem > apical stem > leaves > grains in all the three age groups of the rice plant samples. C. capsularis followed a trend of arsenic bioaccumulation similar to O. sativa. O. sativa had more accumulation potential than C. capsularis, but C. capsularis showed much higher efficiency of arsenic translocation in the above ground parts. This is the first ever report of time-dependent decrease in arsenic bioaccumulation in O. sativa and C. capsularis. The contamination level can reach the grain part in significant amount and can cause health hazards in more severely arsenic affected areas. Intensive investigation on a complete food chain is urgently needed in the arsenic contaminated zones for further risk assessments.

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“…A striking example was the case of a highly-contaminated private well of unreported depth at Ramnagar in West Bengal, India, that was monitored biweekly between July 1992 and June 1993 and showed occasional variations of ~30% around an average of ~2700 µg/L (Chatterjee et al, 1995). The same group observed a long term rise in groundwater As concentration in a number of private wells in 23 villages out of 100 villages of West Bengal where initially water with low As (<50 µg/L) exceeded 50 µg/L over time, although the data were not reported (Chakraborti et al, 2002;Chakraborti et al, 2004). Large seasonal variations of groundwater As levels were also reported in 5 monitoring wells at depths of 3-60 m in Samta village of Western Bangladesh (AAN, 1999), although the measurements of As were few and made by a less reliable method (silver dithiodicarbomate spectrometry) in a local laboratory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal variability of groundwater chemistry in shallow and deep aquifers of Araihazar, Bangladesh

Dhar

Zheng

Stute

et al. 2008

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

111

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Samples were collected every 2-4 weeks from a set of 37 monitoring wells over a period of 2-3 years in Araihazar, Bangladesh, to evaluate the temporal variability of groundwater composition for As and other constituents. The monitoring wells are grouped in 6 nests and span the 5-91 m depth range. Concentrations of As, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, P, and S were measured by high-resolution ICPMS with a precision of 5% or better; concentrations of Cl were measured by ion chromatography. In shallow wells <30 m deep, As and P concentrations generally varied by <30%, whereas concentrations of the major ions (Na, K, Mg, Ca and Cl) and the redox-sensitive elements (Fe, Mn, and S) varied over time by up to ± 90%. In wells tapping the deeper aquifers > 30 m often below clay layers concentrations of groundwater As were much lower and varied by <10%. The concentrations of major cations also varied by <10% in these deep aquifers. In contrast, the concentration of redox-sensitive constituents Fe, S, and Mn in deep aquifers varied by up to 97% over time. Thus, strong decoupling between variations in As and Fe concentrations is evident in groundwaters from shallow and deep aquifers.Comparison of the time series data with groundwater ages determined by 3 H/ 3 He and 14 C dating shows that large seasonal or inter-annual variations in major cation and chloride concentrations are restricted to shallow aquifers and groundwater recharged < 5 years ago. There is no corresponding change in As concentrations despite having significant variations of redox sensitive constituents in these very young waters. This is attributed to chemical buffering due to rapid equilibrium between solute and solid As. At two sites where the As content of groundwater in existing shallow wells averages 102 µg/L (range: < 5 to 648 µg/L; n=118) and 272 µg/L (range: 10 to 485 µg/L; n=65), respectively, a systematic long-term decline in As concentrations lends support to the notion that flushing may slowly deplete an aquifer of As. Shallow aquifer water with > 5 yr 3 H/ 3 He age show a constant As:P molar ratio of 9.6 over time, suggesting common mechanism of mobilization.Corresponding author, Y. Zheng,

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Arsenic calamity in the Indian subcontinent What lessons have been learned?

Cited by 418 publications

References 18 publications

Cytogenetic damage and genetic variants in the individuals susceptible to arsenic‐induced cancer through drinking water

Cytogenetic damage and genetic variants in the individuals susceptible to arsenic‐induced cancer through drinking water

Trend of Arsenic Pollution and Subsequent Bioaccumulation in <i>Oryza sativa</i> and <i>Corchorus capsularis</i> in Bengal Delta

Temporal variability of groundwater chemistry in shallow and deep aquifers of Araihazar, Bangladesh

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