title: Arsenic groundwater contamination and sufferings of people in North 24-Parganas, one of the nine arsenic affected districts of West Bengal, India.
abstract: To understand the magnitude of the arsenic calamity in West Bengal, a detailed study spanning 7 years was made in North 24-Parganas, one of the nine arsenic affected districts. Area and population of North 24-Parganas district are 4093.82 sq. km and 7.3 million, respectively. Fourty eight thousand and thirty water samples were analyzed from hand tubewells of North 24-Parganas in use for drinking, cooking and 29.2% of the tubewells were found to have arsenic above 50 microg/L, the maximum permissible limit of World Health Organization (WHO) and 52.8% have arsenic above 10 microg/L, WHO recommended value of arsenic in drinking water. Out of the 22 blocks of North 24-Parganas, in 20 blocks arsenic has been found above the maximum permissible limit and so far in 16 blocks people have been identified as suffering from arsenical skin lesions. From the generated data, it is estimated that about 2.0 million and 1.0 million people are drinking arsenic contaminated water above 10 microg/L and 50 microg/L level, respectively in North 24-Parganas alone. So far, in our preliminary study 33,000 people have been examined at random from arsenic affected villages in North 24-Parganas and 2274 people have been registered with arsenical skin lesions. Extrapolation of the available data indicates about 0.1 million people may be suffering from arsenical skin lesions from North 24-Parganas alone. A sum of 21,000 hair, nail, and urine samples analyses from arsenic affected villages show 56%, 80%, and 87% people have arsenic in biological specimen more than normal/toxic (hair) level, respectively. Thus, many may be subclinically affected. Due to use of arsenic contaminated groundwater for agricultural irrigation, rice and vegetable are getting arsenic contaminated. Hence there is an additional arsenic burden from food chain. People from arsenic affected villages are also suffering from arsenical neuropathy. A followup study indicates that many of the victims suffering from severe arsenical skin lesions for several years are now suffering from cancer or have already died of cancer.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Mohammad Mahmudur
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Badal Kumar
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: Tarit Roy
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Mrinal Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sengupta
authors.forename: Uttam Kumar
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Dilip
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lodh
authors.forename: Chitta Ranjan
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Chanda
authors.forename: Gautam Kumar
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Subhash Chandra
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Kshitish Chandra
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Saha
authors.forename: Dipankar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chakraborti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D003296:Cooking; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D012042:Registries; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants