Arsenic in drinking water is a global threat to health affecting more than 70 countries and 137 million people, according to new research presented at the 2007 Royal Geographical Society annual conference [1] in London. Eating large amounts of rice grown in affected areas could also be a health risk, scientists said.

"In the long term, one in every 10 people with high concentrations of arsenic in their water will die from it," observed Allan Smith from the University of California at Berkeley. Commenting on the lack of an adequate international response to the arsenic crisis, he added: “I don't know of one government agency which has given this the priority it deserves”.

While South and East Asia account for more than half of the known cases of arsenic poisoning globally, more testing, for instance in Africa, is needed to determine the extent of the problem in other regions. Scientists from Cambridge have developed computer models aimed at predicting which regions might have the highest risks, by comparing them with known problems areas like the river basins of the Ganges and Brahmaputra.

[1] Arsenic in the natural environment; the geography of a global problem (BSG3). 29 Aug 2007. Abstracts

Related news: Arsenic: lung and bladder cancer deaths continue decades after exposure ends, Source Weekly, 13 Jul 2007

Contact:

• Allan Smith, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of California at Berkeley, ahsmith@berkeley.edu, http://coeh.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/smithallan.htm
• Peter Ravenscroft, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK, pr291@cam.ac.uk, http://www.geog.cam.ac.uk/people/ravenscroft/

Source: Richard Black, BBC, 30 Aug 2007 ; Royal Geographic Society, 29 Aug 2007

Tags: water quality, water-related diseases