I’ve been trying to find the science on the newly recinded regulation that would reduce the level of arsenic from 50 parts per billion to 10, but haven’t found anything yet. I will keep looking. In the mean time, thought I’d ask here in case anyone knows. I realize this problem is more often associated with the west and midwest where run off from mining contaminates ground water. It just seems to me that standards set in the 1940s should be reevaluated and perhaps addressed. Just wondering if anyone had any scientific knowledge of this issue. If I lived in Colorado or a similar state where mining and contamination levels are both being effected by recent government policy issues then I’d definately want to know the risks.
Ok found my own answers, here are a couple of sites for anyone interested. Second site is a little scary especially for anyone in a state with a lot of red dots.
Looking through this and the other related threads I get the impression that very few people have any interest at all in facts, nevertheless, here are some interesting studies:
From “Skin Cancer Risk in Relation to Toenail Arsenic Concentrations in a US Population-based Case-Control Study” by Karagas MR, Stukel TA, Morris JS, Tosteson TD, Weiss JE, Spencer SK, Greenberg ER and published in Am J Epidemiol 2001 Mar 15;153(6):559-565: "… it is unknown whether such effects [cancer] occur at environmental levels found in the United States.” “While the risks of SCC [squamous cell cancer of the skin] and BCC [basal cell cancer of the skin] did not appear elevated at the toenail arsenic concentrations detected in most study subjects, the authors cannot exclude the possibility of a dose-related increase at the highest levels of exposure experienced in the New Hampshire population.” Full abstract at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11257063&dopt=Abstract
From “Incidence of transitional cell carcinoma and arsenic in drinking water: a follow-up study of 8,102 residents in an arseniasis-endemic area in northeastern Taiwan” by Chiou HY, Chiou ST, Hsu YH, Chou YL, Tseng CH, Wei ML, Chen CJ and published in Am J Epidemiol 2001 Mar 1;153(5):411-8: “There was a significantly increased incidence of urinary cancers for the study cohort compared with the general population in Taiwan (standardized incidence ratio = 2.05; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.22, 3.24). A significant dose-response relation between risk of cancers of the urinary organs, especially TCC [transitional cell cancer of the bladder], and indices of arsenic exposure was observed after adjustment for age, sex, and cigarette smoking. The multivariate-adjusted relative risks of developing TCC were 1.9, 8.2, and 15.3 for arsenic concentrations of 10.1-50.0, 50.1-100, and >100 microg/liter, respectively, compared with the referent level of < or =10.0 microg/liter.” In other words, there appeared to be a slight increased risk of cancer among persons drinking well water with 10 to 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter compared with persons drinking water with 10 or fewer micrograms per liter and a definitely increased risk of cancer for persons whose water had greater than 50 micrograms per liter. Full abstract at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11226969&dopt=Abstract