There are many harmful chemicals in the environment today. One of those chemicals includes arsenic. Well what exactly is arsenic? Arsenic is present in two forms: inorganic and organic. Turns out that organic arsenic is present in 1/3 of the earth’s atmosphere. Fortunately, it is not dangerous to humans. However, inorganic arsenic can prove to be very toxic. Arsenic is very prominent in substances we are exposed to everyday. Some of these substances include water, air, and rock. What makes it poisonous is when it comes from man-made machines. Why? The arsenic toxin actually mimics estrogen in the body and contributes to hormone imbalance or immune suppression. In many scientific studies, especially in third world countries, arsenic has been proven to cause cancer, mostly skin cancer. It is most present in third world countries because there are not enough clean water supplies. Along with skin cancer, arsenic has been known to cause liver, lung, kidney, and bladder. Studies show that the risk of dying from these types of cancer by drinking one liter of water a day could be as high as 13 per 1,000 people. It is scary to think that more than 2.5 million people may be drinking with high doses of arsenic in it every day. Arsenic is mostly found in well water. So if drinking well water is the norm for you, I would proceed with caution and make sure you are purifying the water before drinking it.
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/substances/toxsubstance.asp?toxid=3
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1519547/
Coming from someone whose family gets all their water- including what we use to water our garden- from an on-site well, this was particularly scary for me. But I talked to my parents and it seems like we adequately filter our water. Still...kinda worried that arsenic is going to become a problem now.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little confused...you said that arsenic is poisonous when "it comes from man-made machines," and later said that dirty water supplies cause arsenic poisoning to people living in third world countries. Is arsenic actually a by-product of machines? Or a result of un-cleanliness?
ReplyDeleteI do think that this article points out a very prominent public health issue. Many people have wells in their yard, and arsenic poisoning might be a risk of owning a well that someone did not take into account when building a well. Your article is on a very interesting topic. Do you think that arsenic poisoning is a potent enough problem that the government (of the US) should get involved in safety/health regulations?