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Arsenic-induced health crisis in peri-urban Moyna and Ardebok villages, West Bengal, India: an exposure assessment study

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Abstract

Drinking of arsenic (As)-contaminated groundwater has adverse effects on health of millions of people worldwide. This study aimed to determine the degree of severity of As exposure from drinking water in peri-urban Moyna and Ardebok villages, West Bengal, India. Arsenic concentrations in hair, nail and urine samp les of the individuals were determined. Arsenical dermatosis, keratosis and melanosis were investigated through medical evaluation. We have evaluated the association between As exposure from drinking water, and keratosis and melanosis outcomes. The results showed that 82.7 % of the sampled tube wells contain As concentrations above 10 μg/L, while 57.7 % contain As concentrations above 50 μg/L. The hair, nail and urine As concentrations were positively correlated with As concentrations in drinking water. In our study population, we observed a strong association between As concentrations ranging 51–99 μg/L and keratosis and melanosis outcomes, although the probability decreases at higher concentration ranges perhaps due to switching away from the use of As-contaminated tube wells for drinking and cooking purposes. High As concentrations in hair, nail and urine were observed to be associated with the age of the study population. The level of As concentrations in hair, nail and urine samples of the study population indicated the degree of severity of As exposure in the study region.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan (Project No: NSC 97-2627-M-006-003). We also acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments to improve the earlier version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan

    Jyoti Prakash Maity, Sandeep Kar & Jiin-Shuh Jean

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Ming-Shung, Chiayi County, Taiwan

    Jyoti Prakash Maity & Chien-Yen Chen

  3. School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Bibhash Nath

  4. Department of Environmental Science, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, 741235, West Bengal, India

    Satabdi Banerjee & Subhas Chandra Santra

  5. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan

    Ming-Yie Liu

  6. Division of Biophysical Toxicology, Joint Pathology Center, Washington, DC, USA

    José A. Centeno

  7. KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group, Department of Land and Water Resource Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

    Prosun Bhattacharya

  8. Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan

    Christina L. Chang

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  1. Jyoti Prakash Maity
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  2. Bibhash Nath
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  3. Sandeep Kar
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Correspondence to Jyoti Prakash Maity or Chien-Yen Chen.

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Maity, J.P., Nath, B., Kar, S. et al. Arsenic-induced health crisis in peri-urban Moyna and Ardebok villages, West Bengal, India: an exposure assessment study. Environ Geochem Health 34, 563–574 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-012-9458-y

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