12 Nov 2024        13:40:06 pm

Science

Arsenic

Tags : Arsenic

Topic: Pollution

Why in the news?

• An extensive study found that groundwater in about 20 per cent of India\'s total land mass contains \"toxic levels of arsenic\", exposing more than 250 million people across the country to this deadly element.
• Arsenic contamination of groundwater has affected the health of millions of people globally with populations in Bangladesh, India and China the worst affected.
• Other countries with arsenic contaminating their groundwater supplies include Argentina, Cambodia, Chile, Hungary, United States, Mexico, Romania, Pakistan, Nepal and Vietnam. Asian and Southeast Asian countries are by far the most impacted.
• The World Health Organization classifies arsenic as carcinogenic to humans and lists various forms of cancer, skin lesions, cardiovascular ailments and diabetes as diseases caused by long-term exposure to the deadly element.

Source: Down To Earth

About Arsenic:

• It is a naturally occurring, semimetallic element widely distributed in the Earth’s crust.
• It is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land.
• It is a chemical element in the nitrogen group (Group 15 of the periodic table), existing in both gray and yellow crystalline forms.
• It is highly toxic in its inorganic form.
• People are exposed to elevated levels of inorganic arsenic through drinking contaminated water, using contaminated water in food preparation and irrigation of food crops, industrial processes, eating contaminated food and smoking tobacco.
• Health Impacts: Long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic, mainly through drinking-water and food, can lead to chronic arsenic poisoning. Skin lesions and skin cancer are the most characteristic effects.
• In India, the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Chhattisgarh are reported to be most affected by arsenic contamination of groundwater above the permissible level.

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