Arsenic and Drinking Water
The level of arsenic in your drinking water could affect your health. According to a 1999 study by the National Academy of Sciences, arsenic in drinking water can cause bladder, lung and skin cancer, and may cause kidney and liver cancer. The study also found that arsenic harms the central and peripheral nervous systems, as well as heart and blood vessels, and causes serious skin problems. It also may cause birth defects and reproductive problems.
Arsenic is a naturally occurring, common element found in the earth’s crust. Very low levels of arsenic are also present in plants and foods such as fish as well as in the air. Many of these compounds occur naturally, but some are man-made. Arsenic compounds have no distinctive taste or smell. The body may even need very small amounts of arsenic.
New evidence shows the amount of arsenic that can cause health problems is lower than previously thought. Drinking water provided by most water utility companies meets or falls below the national standard for arsenic, established in 1942. In 1942 health officials didn’t know that arsenic could cause cancer.
In 1999 National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a private organization that includes 190 Nobel Prize laureates, produced a cumulative study on the health effects associated with exposure to arsenic - one of three EPA commissioned reports. Estimates show that one out of 100 people who drink water containing 50 ppb will get cancer (based on drinking two liters of water per day over the course of a lifetime). That’s an extremely high cancer risk. Due to the results of this report, on February 2, 2002 the EPA required lowering the arsenic standard. This new standard reduces the cancer risk for all drinking water to one in 10,000. Water systems are expected to comply with the new standard as of 1/23/06.
Many of the health effects described above for arsenic are often seen with other common illnesses. This makes it difficult to know if these health effects are due to arsenic exposure. If you are concerned about health problems possibly due to arsenic in your water, you should discuss them with your doctor.
References: Safe Water Drinking http://www.epa.gov/sagewater
EPA Safewater http;//www.epa.gov/safe water/arsenic.html