Intervention trial to assess arsenic exposure from food crops in Bangladesh.
The authors assessed the contribution of food irrigated with arsenic-contaminated water to human exposure to arsenic in Bangladesh. An intervention trial was conducted in a village in the Jessore District of Bangladesh, where irrigation water had been field-tested in March 2000 and was found to contain arsenic with concentrations ranging from 100 to 500 microg/l. In May 2000, a random sample of 63 households was selected from the village, and 1 eligible person from each household was recruited to the study and randomized to an intervention or control group. The intervention group received food purchased from a village where irrigation water was found to contain < 10 microg/l arsenic. The control group received food purchased from markets in the study village, where irrigation water was found to contain > 100 microg/l arsenic. Pre- and postintervention urine samples were collected for urinary arsenic speciation assays. Preintervention, the mean urinary total arsenic concentrations were 139.25 microg/l and 129.15 microg/l for the intervention and control groups, respectively. These concentrations did not change significantly following intervention. Arsenic concentrations in samples of selected raw and cooked foods from the low-contamination area did not contain less arsenic than samples from the high-contamination area. Further studies to investigate the arsenic content of food grown in areas with high and low arsenic contamination of irrigation water are recommended.
Ranmuthugala
Geetha
G
National Center for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. geetha.ranmuthugala@med.monash.edu.au
Milton
Abul H
AH
Smith
Wayne T
WT
Ng
Jack C
JC
Sim
Malcolm
M
Dear
Keith
K
Caldwell
Bruce K
BK
D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D001151:Arsenic / Q000652:urine; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001459:Bangladesh; D003132:Commerce; D005260:Female; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010945:Plants, Edible; D014881:Water Supply
D001151:Arsenic