Arsenic poisoning can lead to many health complications

It is one of the 10 chemicals classified by WHO as a public health concern

 New Delhi, 10 September 2018: About 15 years ago, scientists discovered the presence of high levels of arsenic in Madhusudankati, an agricultural village about 14 km from the border with Bangladesh. Deep inside India’s arsenic territory, the shallow groundwater in the village had about 1,000 micrograms (mcg) per litre arsenic in places. The prescribed safe level by WHO is 10 mcg per litre. When such water is consumed for years, either directly or through the food chain, the mineral damages organs like the skin, kidneys and lungs.

The most visible symptom of arsenic poisoning is a classic blotchy pattern on the skin, known as raindrop pigmentation. In the absence of safe water, this can develop into hyperkeratosis — dark crusts on palms and soles, which can further get infected and make it painful to work. Eventually, the skin can turn cancerous.

Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, President, HCFI, said, “Arsenic is one of the 10 chemicals classified as a public health concern by the World Health Organization. It is a slow poison and causes skin lesions, damage to the peripheral nerves, gastrointestinal ailments, diabetes, renal (kidney) failure, and cancer. At least half the people known to be at risk of arsenic contamination live in the Ganga-Brahmaputra basins of Bangladesh and India (across the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Chhattisgarh). Arsenic previously occurred in a harmless insoluble conjugate with iron called arsenopyrite. Overuse has split this compound, contaminating groundwater with a soluble ionic form of arsenic.”

Exposure to arsenic is also found to be significantly associated with a 23% greater relative risk of coronary heart disease and a 30% greater relative risk of composite cardiovascular disease.

Adding further, Dr Aggarwal, who is also the Group Editor-in-Chief of IJCP, said, “There is a need to ensure periodic testing of water in affected areas and individualized testing of each hand pump or tube well. it is important to encourage people to opt for low-cost, local solutions such as rainwater harvesting to get clean drinking water. The government can also look at curbing the use of groundwater and keeping a strict control on agricultural and industrial effluents that pollute aquifers that recharge groundwater.”

Some of these topics will be discussed at the 25^th Perfect Health Mela to be held between 23^rd and 27^th October 2018, at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.

Some tips from HCFI

• Travelers should avoid consuming tap water. Avoid ice made from tap water and any food rinsed in tap water.
• Chlorination kills most bacterial and viral pathogens but not giardia cysts.
• Boiled, treated, and bottled water is safe. Carbonated drinks, wine and drinks made with boiled water are safe.
• Freezing does not kill the organisms that cause diarrhea. Ice in drinks is not safe unless it has been made from adequately boiled or filtered water.
• Hot tea and coffee are the best alternates to boiled water. Bottled drinks should be requested without ice and should be drunk from the bottle with a straw rather than with a glass.
• Boiling water for 3 minutes followed by cooling to room temperature will kill bacterial parasites. Adding two drops of 5% sodium hydrochloride (bleach) to quarter of water (1 liter) will kill most bacteria in 30 minutes.
• Adding five drops of tincture of iodine to a quarter of water (1 liter) will kill bacteria within 30 minutes.