title: Ecological and human health risk aspects of burning arsenic-rich coal.
abstract: The subject of the study was the ecological and human health consequences of environmental pollution from emissions arising from burning local coal with an arsenic content ranging from 900 to 1,500 g/tonne of dry substance. The first indication of environmental pollution by arsenic-containing emissions was the mass extinction of honeybee colonies. The neurotoxic and carcinogenic aspects of arsenic exposure were followed. On using a group diagnostics approach, significant hearing losses were detected in exposed children in both air and bone conduction audiometry at high frequency range (4,000 and 8,000 Hz, respectively). Exposure assessment of the local population of the Prievidza district, Central Slovakia, was based on biological monitoring. The criterion of higher exposure was arsenic content in hair exceeding concentrations of 3 microg/g of hair. In a 7.5-km radius of the exposed region, live about two-tenths of the district population who were considered as "exposed" and rest of the district served as the "reference" population. The subject of our analysis was a database of 1,503 non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) cases (756 in men and 747 in women) collected from 1977 to 1996 in the Prievidza district, Central Slovakia (population approximately 125,000). The age standardized incidence of NMSC (each confirmed by histological examination) in non-occupational settings ranged from 45.9 to 93.9 in men and from 34.6 to 81.4 in women. Analysis of our data demonstrates a positive correlation between human cumulative exposure to arsenic and incidence of NMSC.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Praha, Czech Republic. vladimir.bencko@lf1.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Vladimír
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bencko
authors.forename: Jirí
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rames
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fabiánová
authors.forename: Jirí
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pesek
authors.forename: Marián
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jakubis
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D020261:Arsenic Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003031:Coal; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011210:Power Plants; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D003031:Coal; D001151:Arsenic