Investigation of Health Effects According to the Exposure of Low Concentration Arsenic Contaminated Ground Water

Young-seoub Hong, Byeong-jin Ye, Yu-mi Kim, Byoung-gwon Kim, Gyeong-hui Kang, Jeong-jin Kim, Ki-hoon Song, Young-hun Kim and Jeong-wook Seo
Additional contact information
Young-seoub Hong: Department of Preventive Medicin, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea
Byeong-jin Ye: Gimhae Clinic Occupational Health Center, Inje University, Gimhae 50969, Korea
Yu-mi Kim: Department of Preventive Medicin, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea
Byoung-gwon Kim: Department of Preventive Medicin, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea
Gyeong-hui Kang: Haman Community Healthcare center, Haman 50461, Korea
Jeong-jin Kim: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Andong National University, Andong 36729, Korea
Ki-hoon Song: Department of Dermatology, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea
Young-hun Kim: Department of Environmental Engineering, Andong National University, Andong 36729, Korea
Jeong-wook Seo: Environmental Health Center, Dong-A University, Busan 49201, Korea

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: Recent epidemiological studies have reported adverse health effects, including skin cancer, due to low concentrations of arsenic via drinking water. We conducted a study to assess whether low arsenic contaminated ground water affected health of the residents who consumed it. For precise biomonitoring results, the inorganic (trivalent arsenite (As III) and pentavalent arsenate (As V)) and organic forms (monomethylarsonate (MMA) and dimethylarsinate (DMA)) of arsenic were separately quantified by combining high-performance liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy from urine samples. In conclusion, urinary As III, As V, MMA, and hair arsenic concentrations were significantly higher in residents who consumed arsenic contaminated ground water than control participants who consumed tap water. But, most health screening results did not show a statistically significant difference between exposed and control subjects. We presume that the elevated arsenic concentrations may not be sufficient to cause detectable health effects. Consumption of arsenic contaminated ground water could result in elevated urinary organic and inorganic arsenic concentrations. We recommend immediate discontinuation of ground water supply in this area for the safety of the residents.

Keywords: arsenic; biomonitoring; health effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/12/1461/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/12/1461/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:12:p:1461-:d:120517

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().