Arsenic Pollution

Arsenic pollutes waters in more than 70 counties around the world, and tens of millions of people are potentially exposed to and experience adverse health effects that result from [Page 34]acute or chronic contact with the element. Although direct ingestion or dermal contact with contaminated water is the main source of exposure, arsenic can also be held by soil or taken up by plants when contaminated water is used to irrigate fields. While some plants are more resistant to the uptake of arsenic, others extract it more readily. Differences could potentially be due to geologic considerations, soil chemistry characteristics, differing root systems depths, climatic differences, or extent or source of contamination.

Although arsenic water contamination is a global-scale problem, areas in southeast Asia, especially Bangladesh and ...