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Comparison of Drinking Water, Raw Rice and Cooking of Rice as Arsenic Exposure Routes in three Contrasting Areas of West Bengal, India

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Title Comparison of Drinking Water, Raw Rice and Cooking of Rice
as Arsenic Exposure Routes in three Contrasting Areas of West Bengal, India
 
Creator Mondal, Debapriya
Banerjee, Mayukh
Kundu, Manjari
Banerjee, Nilanjana
Bhattacharya, Udayan
Giri, Ashok K
Ganguli, Bhaswati
Sen Roy, Sugata
Polya, David
 
Subject Molecular & Human Genetics
 
Description Remediation aimed at reducing human
exposure to groundwater arsenic in West Bengal, one
of the regions most impacted by this environmental
hazard, are currently largely focussed on reducing
arsenic in drinking water. Rice and cooking of rice,
however, have also been identified as important or
potentially important exposure routes. Quantifying the
relative importance of these exposure routes is critically
required to inform the prioritisation and selection
of remediation strategies. The aim of our study,
therefore, was to determine the relative contributions
of drinking water, rice and cooking of rice to human
exposure in three contrasting areas of West Bengal
with different overall levels of exposure to arsenic, viz.
high (Bhawangola-I Block, Murshidibad District),
moderate (Chakdha Block, Nadia District) and low (Khejuri-I Block, Midnapur District). Arsenic exposure
from water was highly variable, median exposures
being 0.02 lg/kg/d (Midnapur), 0.77 lg/kg/d (Nadia)
and 2.03 lg/kg/d (Murshidabad). In contrast arsenic
exposure from cooked rice was relatively uniform,
with median exposures being 0.30 lg/kg/d (Midnapur),
0.50 lg/kg/d (Nadia) and 0.84 lg/kg/d (Murshidabad).
Cooking rice typically resulted in arsenic
exposures of lower magnitude, indeed in Midnapur,
median exposure from cooking was slightly negative.
Water was the dominant route of exposure in Murshidabad,
both water and rice were major exposure routes
in Nadia, whereas rice was the dominant exposure
route in Midnapur. Notwithstanding the differences in
balance of exposure routes, median excess lifetime
cancer risk for all the blocks were found to exceed the
USEPA regulatory threshold target cancer risk level of
10-4–10-6. The difference in balance of exposure
routes indicate a difference in balance of remediation
approaches in the three districts.
 
Date 2010
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://www.eprints.iicb.res.in/72/1/ENVIRONMENTAL_GEOCHEMISTRY_AND_HEALTH__Volume_32(6)463%2D477;2010[8].pdf
Mondal, Debapriya and Banerjee, Mayukh and Kundu, Manjari and Banerjee, Nilanjana and Bhattacharya, Udayan and Giri, Ashok K and Ganguli, Bhaswati and Sen Roy, Sugata and Polya, David (2010) Comparison of Drinking Water, Raw Rice and Cooking of Rice as Arsenic Exposure Routes in three Contrasting Areas of West Bengal, India. Environ Geochem Health, 32 (6). pp. 463-477.
 
Relation http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10653-010-9319-5
http://www.eprints.iicb.res.in/72/