Abstract
Arsenic-contamination of groundwater has long been reported in Mushidabad district of West Bengal, India. We visited 19 arsenic-affected families and 4 non-arsenic -affected families in that area during 20-22 February 2001 and collected 10 tubewell waters used for drinking and cooking and 89 urines from those families. The arsenic concentrations in waters ranged from 0.64 to 75.5 ppb. The average of arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in urine were 23.1, 59.0, 24.6 and 127.4 ng/ml urine, respectively. The average of total arsenic was 234.1 ng/ml urine. On comparison of the ratio of (MMA + DMA) to total arsenic, the average proportion of (MMA + DMA) was 75.7%, but the proportions were from 4.2 to 57.2% for 11 persons. This result suggests that they might be damaged due to the arsenic-methylating capacity. When selecting the members of A to L families because of using the two same tubewell waters except 5 persons due to the luck of enough arsenic-methylating capacity, there were the good relationships (p 0.05). The result suggests the possibility of the contribution of other sources like foodstuffs regarding to the excretion of arsenic species from the urines.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.