Screening for Clastogenic Effects of Arsenicals on Plants In vivo

Abstract

The high arsenic content in drinking water in eight districts of West Bengal in India and several districts of adjacent to Bangladesh has placed millions of people at risk of arsenic poisoning to different degrees. A large proportion of the total population in this region exposed to arsenic in drinking water has been observed to exhibit arsenical skin lesions of different degrees and types leading even upto gangrene and skin cancer (Mandai et al., 1996; Dhar et al., 1997). The permissible limit of arsenic concentration in potable groundwater is 0.05 mg per litre, according to World Health Organization guidelines (WHO, 1981). The average concentration in the affected areas is reported to be 0.2 mg per litre, reaching a maximum of 3.7 mg per litre. Further contamination of groundwater in Calcutta urban areas has been reported through discharge of effluents from industries involved with arsenicals, like copper acetoarsenite (Chakraborti et al., 1998). The most common forms of arsenic found in the ground water are arsenite and arsenate. The widespread contamination of ground water by inorganic arsenic, in concentrations much above permissible levels, raises the question of the effects of arsenic on crops raised on such water, usually through irrigation.