title: Assessment of environmental arsenic levels in Prievidza district.
abstract: A coal-burning power station in the Nitra Valley in central Slovakia annually emitted large quantities of arsenic (up to 200 tonnes) between 1953 and 1989. Since then, pollution-control measures have reduced arsenic emissions to less than 2 tonnes a year. However, the power station was still a source of airborne arsenic pollution. As part of an EU-funded study on exposure to arsenic and cancer risk in central and Eastern Europe we carried out a study of environmental levels of arsenic in the homes and gardens of residents of the district. Garden soil samples (n=210), house dust samples (n=210) and composite house dust samples (n=109) were collected and analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic absorption spectroscopy (ICP-AES) at Imperial College. The mean arsenic content of coal and ash in samples taken from the plant was 519 microg/g (n=19) and 863 microg/g (n=22), respectively. The geometric mean (GM) arsenic concentration of garden soils was 26 microg/g (range 8.8-139.0 microg/g), for house dust 11.6 microg/g (range 2.1-170 microg/g) and for composite house dust 9.4 microg/g (range 2.3-61.5 microg/g). The correlation between the arsenic levels in soil and in house dust was 0.3 (P<0.01), in soil and composite house dust 0.4 and house dust and composite house dust 0.4 (P<0.01 for both), i.e., were moderate. Arsenic levels in both house dust and soil decreased with distance from the power station. Overall, levels in both fell by half 5 km from the point source. Weak correlations were seen between the total urinary arsenic concentrations and arsenic concentrations in composite house dust.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2BP, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farago
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jakubis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jakubis
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pesch
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ranft
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Nieuwenhuijsen
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000652:urine*; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000652:urine*; D003031:Coal; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D018154:Slovakia; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D004391:Dust; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic