Health aspects of human exposure to high arsenic concentrations in soil in south-west England

Farago, M. E.; Thornton, I.; Kavanagh, P.; Elliott, Paul; Leonardi, Giovanni

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5864-0_17

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…It is now recognised that exposure of humans to elevated levels of arsenic should be avoided (Thornton et al, 1986;Farago et al, 1997). Inorganic arsenate and arsenite are the most toxic natural forms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of a mining-related arsenic-contaminated site, Cornwall, UK

Camm

Glass

Bryce³

et al. 2004

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of a mining-related arsenic-contaminated site, Cornwall, UK

Camm

Glass

Bryce³

et al. 2004

Journal of Geochemical Exploration

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“…In soils, a global average concentration level of 5 mg/kg was estimated by Koljonen, 3 but concentrations may vary considerably among geographic regions. In some areas of South‐West England, near old smelters or mining areas, concentrations of As range from 24 to 161,000 mg/kg 4 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In some areas of South-West England, near old smelters or mining areas, concentrations of As range from 24 to 161,000 mg/kg. 4 In natural waters, As is mostly found in inorganic forms as oxyanions of trivalent arsenite or pentavalent arsenate. Background concentrations of As in groundwater range from less than 0.5 to 5000 g/L.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Results of a Long‐Term Carcinogenicity Bioassay on Sprague‐Dawley Rats Exposed to Sodium Arsenite Administered in Drinking Water

Soffritti

Belpoggi

Esposti

et al. 2006

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Arsenic (As) is a metal found in nature whose acute and chronic toxic effects have been known for decades. Hundreds of millions of people are at risk of exposure to As and its various chemical forms which can occur in the occupational and general environment in air, water, soil, food, and medicines. Several epidemiological studies have shown that prolonged exposure to As can induce various types of malignant tumors in humans, namely, skin, lung, liver, kidney, and bladder cancers. These effects have been observed particularly in geographic areas where people are exposed to well water with high concentrations of As. While the risks of As at high concentrations are well documented, there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding the risk of exposure to As at very low levels. This uncertainty is due to the absence of adequate epidemiological data and the insufficiency of experimental data currently available. Given the limited evidence demonstrating the carcinogenic potential of As in animals, a long-term carcinogenicity bioassay on sodium arsenite (NaAsO(2)) was performed at the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center (CMCRC) of the European Ramazzini Foundation (ERF). NaAsO(2) was administrated with drinking water at concentrations of 200, 100, 50, or 0 mg/L, for 104 weeks to Sprague-Dawley rats (50/sex/group), 8 weeks old at the start of the study. The animals were monitored until spontaneous death at which time each animal underwent complete necropsy. Histopathological evaluation of all pathological lesions and of all organs and tissues collected was routinely performed on each animal. The results demonstrate that in our experimental conditions NaAsO(2) induces sparse benign and malignant tumors among treated rats. The types of tumors observed are infrequent in the strain of Sprague-Dawley rats of the colony used in our laboratory, namely, lung adenomas and carcinomas, kidney adenomas/papillomas and carcinomas, and bladder carcinomas. Notably, an elevated incidence of these types of oncological lesions is also observed among people living in geographical areas where As is present at higher concentrations in drinking water.

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“…Previous work carried out in the south-west England has highlighted the problem of As -Cu contamination in this region (Colbourne et al, 1975;Xu and Thornton, 1985;Abrahams and Thornton, 1987;Li and Thornton, 1993a;Li and Thornton, 1993b;Thornton, 1994;Farago et al, 1997;Kavanagh, 1998;Thornton 2000;Camm et al, 2003;Camm et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Operationally defined associations of arsenic and copper from soil and mine waste in south-west England

Dybowska

Farago

Valsami‐Jones

et al. 2005

Chemical Speciation & Bioavailability

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Arsenic and copper fractionation was studied in contaminated soil and mine waste materials from a mining site in Devon, UK. Ten soil samples with Cu concentrations ranging from 300 -6144 mgykg and As concentrations ranging from 5512 -39715 mgykg were sequentially extracted using the modified method of Tessier et al. (1979) and Wenzel et al. (2001). The Classical Tessier et al. (1979) scheme was shown to be inadequate for studying either Cu or As fractionation as it severely underestimated the Feoxide associated fraction. The Modified Tessier et al. (1979) scheme, including the two additional steps specifically targeting Fe-oxides, was shown adequate for both Cu and As fractionation; however the Wenzel et al. (2001) protocol allows the prediction of changes in lability of As in various solid phases as a result of soil remediation or alteration in environmental factors. In agreement with other studies, arsenic was found to be held predominantly in the amorphous Fe-oxide fraction (55% -94%), which can be potentially mobilised with a change in redox conditions. A significant proportion of As can also be remobilised from the soils through the process of anion exchange. Copper presented a different fractionation pattern as it was distributed mainly between the organicysulfide and the Fe -Mn oxide fractions. Although the total concentrations of Cu in the soils are much lower than As, Cu appears to be solubilised to a much greater extent as indicated by the higher percentage contribution of Cu in the easily mobilisable fractions.

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Health aspects of human exposure to high arsenic concentrations in soil in south-west England

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

Characterisation of a mining-related arsenic-contaminated site, Cornwall, UK

Characterisation of a mining-related arsenic-contaminated site, Cornwall, UK

Results of a Long‐Term Carcinogenicity Bioassay on Sprague‐Dawley Rats Exposed to Sodium Arsenite Administered in Drinking Water

Operationally defined associations of arsenic and copper from soil and mine waste in south-west England

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