Cancer risks from arsenic in drinking water.
TL;DR: The evidence assessed here indicates that arsenic can also cause liver, lung, kidney, and bladder cancer and that the population cancer risks due to arsenic in U.S. water supplies may be comparable to those from environmental tobacco smoke and radon in homes.
Abstract: Ingestion of arsenic, both from water supplies and medicinal preparations, is known to cause skin cancer. The evidence assessed here indicates that arsenic can also cause liver, lung, kidney, and bladder cancer and that the population cancer risks due to arsenic in U.S. water supplies may be comparable to those from environmental tobacco smoke and radon in homes. Large population studies in an area of Taiwan with high arsenic levels in well water (170-800 micrograms/L) were used to establish dose-response relationships between cancer risks and the concentration of inorganic arsenic naturally present in water supplies. It was estimated that at the current EPA standard of 50 micrograms/L, the lifetime risk of dying from cancer of the liver, lung, kidney, or bladder from drinking 1 L/day of water could be as high as 13 per 1000 persons. It has been estimated that more than 350,000 people in the United States may be supplied with water containing more than 50 micrograms/L arsenic, and more than 2.5 million people may be supplied with water with levels above 25 micrograms/L. For average arsenic levels and water consumption patterns in the United States, the risk estimate was around 1/1000. Although further research is needed to validate these findings, measures to reduce arsenic levels in water supplies should be considered.
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TL;DR: The scale of the problem in terms of population exposed to high As concentrations is greatest in the Bengal Basin with more than 40 million people drinking water containing ‘excessive’ As as mentioned in this paper.
6,741 citations
TL;DR: The experience in Bangladesh shows that groundwater sources throughout the world that are used for drinking-water should be tested for arsenic, and the fundamental intervention is the identification and provision of arsenic-free drinking water.
Abstract: The contamination of groundwater by arsenic in Bangladesh is the largest poisoning of a population in history, with millions of people exposed. This paper describes the history of the discovery of arsenic in drinking-water in Bangladesh and recommends intervention strategies. Tube-wells were installed to provide ‘‘pure water’’ to prevent morbidity and mortality from gastrointestinal disease. The water from the millions of tube-wells that were installed was not tested for arsenic contamination. Studies in other countries where the population has had long-term exposure to arsenic in groundwater indicate that 1 in 10 people who drink water containing 500mg of arsenic per litre may ultimately die from cancers caused by arsenic, including lung, bladder and skin cancers. The rapid allocation of funding and prompt expansion of current interventions to address this contamination should be facilitated. The fundamental intervention is the identification and provision of arsenic-free drinking water. Arsenic is rapidly excreted in urine, and for early or mild cases, no specific treatment is required. Community education and participation are essential to ensure that interventions are successful; these should be coupled with follow-up monitoring to confirm that exposure has ended. Taken together with the discovery of arsenic in groundwater in other countries, the experience in Bangladesh shows that groundwater sources throughout the world that are used for drinking-water should be tested for arsenic.
1,946 citations
Cites background from "Cancer risks from arsenic in drinki..."
...Using the current US Environmental Protection Agency standard of 50 mg/l, it has been estimated that the lifetime risk of dying from cancer of the liver, lung, kidney or bladder while drinking 1 litre a day of water containing arsenic at this concentration could be as high as 13 per 1000 persons exposed ( 30 )....
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...In Taiwan, populations exposed to high concentrations of arsenic in their drinking-water, containing an average of 800 mg/l of arsenic, had estimates of their relative risk of bladder cancer in the order of 30–60 (27, 30 )....
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27 Oct 1991
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of lead poisoning on the developing developing developing nervous system were investigated, including neurological, neurobehavioral, and developmental effects in children, and toxicity.
Abstract: Essentiality Toxicity Carcinogenicity Lead(Pb) Exposure Toxicokinetics Toxicity Neurologic, Neurobehavioral, and Developmental Effects in Children Mechanisms of Effects on the Developing Nervous System Peripheral Neuropathy Hematologic Effects Renal Toxicity Lead and Gout Effects on Cardiovascular System Immunotoxicity Bone Effects Reproductive Effects Birth Outcomes Carcinogenicity Other Effects Dose Response Treatment Organic Lead Compounds Mercury (Hg) Exposure Disposition and Toxicokinetics Metabolic Transformation Cellular Metabolism Toxicology Biological Indicators Treatment Nickel (Ni) Exposure Toxicokinetics Essentiality Toxicity Nickel Carbonyl Poisoning Dermatitis Indicators of Nickel Toxicity
1,727 citations
13 Oct 2003
TL;DR: A two-class classification model for grouping is proposed that defines a variety of features derived from the classical Gestalt cues, including contour, texture, brightness and good continuation, and trains a linear classifier to combine these features.
Abstract: We propose a two-class classification model for grouping. Human segmented natural images are used as positive examples. Negative examples of grouping are constructed by randomly matching human segmentations and images. In a preprocessing stage an image is over-segmented into super-pixels. We define a variety of features derived from the classical Gestalt cues, including contour, texture, brightness and good continuation. Information-theoretic analysis is applied to evaluate the power of these grouping cues. We train a linear classifier to combine these features. To demonstrate the power of the classification model, a simple algorithm is used to randomly search for good segmentations. Results are shown on a wide range of images.
1,708 citations
TL;DR: A better understanding of the mechanism(s) of action) of arsenic will make a more confident determination of the risks associated with exposure to this chemical.
1,460 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this paper, the role and limitations of retrospective investigations of factors possibly associated with the occurrence of a disease are discussed and their relationship to forward-type studies emphasized, and examples of situations in which misleading associations could arise through the use of inappropriate control groups are presented.
Abstract: The role and limitations of retrospective investigations of factors possibly associated with the occurrence of a disease are discussed and their relationship to forward-type studies emphasized. Examples of situations in which misleading associations could arise through the use of inappropriate control groups are presented. The possibility of misleading associations may be minimized by controlling or matching on factors which could produce such associations; the statistical analysis will then be modified. Statistical methodology is presented for analyzing retrospective study data, including chi-square measures of statistical significance of the observed association between the disease and the factor under study, and measures for interpreting the association in terms of an increased relative risk of disease. An extension of the chi-square test to the situation where data are subclassified by factors controlled in the analysis is given. A summary relative risk formula, R, is presented and discussed in connection with the problem of weighting the individual subcategory relative risks according to their importance or their precision. Alternative relative-risk formulas, R I , R2, Ra, and R4/ which require the calculation of subcategory-adjusted proportions ot the study factor among diseased persons and controls for the computation of relative risks, are discussed. While these latter formulas may be useful in many instances, they may be biased or inconsistent and are not, in fact, overages of the relative risks observed in the separate subcategories. Only the relative-risk formula, R, of those presented, can be viewed as such an average. The relationship of the matched-sample method to the subclassification approach is indicated. The statistical methodolo~y presented is illustrated with examples from a study of women with epidermoid and undifferentiated pulmonary ccrclnomc.e-J. Nat. Cancer Inst, 22: 719748, 1959.
14,433 citations
Book•
01 Feb 1983
TL;DR: The risk assessment/risk management knowledge representation was the capacity that it granted to the administrators of the EPA to design a joint decision-making process involving the various programmatic and functional offices of the agency and assembling the expertise and specific conceptions of uncertainty of toxicologists, economists, and policy analysts.
Abstract: often presented as the source of the risk assessment‒risk management framework and the inspiration for William Ruckelshaus’s policy of publicly separating science from policy in the agency— but that is a misreading of the report (North 2003) because it explicitly recommended distinguishing these things intellectually, and forced thinking about their interaction. But the single most important material consequence of the risk assessment/ risk management knowledge representation was the capacity that it granted to the administrators of the agency to design a joint decisionmaking process involving the various programmatic and functional offices of the agency, and assembling the expertise and specific conceptions of uncertainty of toxicologists, economists, and policy analysts. In other words, the framework supported a redesign and integration of the agency, in the form of a decisionmaking process that attended to the various dimensions of an environmental issue, and concerns of EPA’s audiences. All of this was evident in Alvin Alm’s decision to pursue the Toxics Integration effort of the late 1970s, the gradual acculturation to the knowledge representation borne by RAFG across the agency, the ensuring design of a sophisticated “options tracking system,” and the creation of multiple analytical guides and formats for application by all the agency staff.
1,994 citations
891 citations
TL;DR: A significant dose-response relationship was observed between arsenic level in drinking water and mortality of the cancers, and the multiplicity of inorganic arsenic-induced carcinogenicity without showing any organotropism deserves further investigation.
Abstract: In order to compare risk of various internal organ cancers induced by ingested inorganic arsenic and to assess the differences in risk between males and females, cancer potency indices were calculated using mortality rates among residents in an endemic area of chronic arsenicism on the southwest coast of Taiwan, and the Armitage-Doll multistage model. Based on a total of 898,806 person-years as well as 202 liver cancer, 304 lung cancer, 202 bladder cancer and 64 kidney cancer deaths, a significant dose-response relationship was observed between arsenic level in drinking water and mortality of the cancers. The potency index of developing cancer of the liver, lung, bladder and kidney due to an intake of 10 micrograms kg day of arsenic was estimated as 4.3 x 10(-3), 1.2 x 10(-2), 1.2 x 10(-2), and 4.2 x 10(-3), respectively, for males; as well as 3.6 x 10(-3), 1.3 x 10(-2), 1.7 x 10(-2), and 4.8 x 10(-3), respectively, for females in the study area. The multiplicity of inorganic arsenic-induced carcinogenicity without showing any organotropism deserves further investigation.
750 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A dose-response relationship was observed between SMR of the cancers and blackfoot disease prevalence rate of the villages and townships in the endemic areas, and SMRs of cancers were greater in villages where only artesian wells were used as the drinking water source than in villages using both artesian and shallow wells.
Abstract: The objective of this study is to elucidate the association between high-arsenic artesian well water and cancers in endemic area of blackfoot disease, a unique peripheral vascular disease related to continuous arsenic exposure. As compared with the general population in Taiwan, both the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and cumulative mortality rate were significantly high in blackfoot disease-endemic areas for cancers of bladder, kidney, skin, lung, liver, and colon. The SMRs for cancers of bladder, kidney, skin, lung, liver, and colon were 1100, 772, 534, 320, 170, and 160, respectively, for males, and 2009, 1119, 652, 413, 229, and 168, respectively, for females. A dose-response relationship was observed between SMRs of the cancers and blackfoot disease prevalence rate of the villages and townships in the endemic areas. SMRs of cancers were greater in villages where only artesian wells were used as the drinking water source than in villages using both artesian and shallow wells, and even greater than in villages using shallow wells only.
624 citations