Human Health Risk Assessment: Arsenic Exposure Risks in Bangladesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12974/2311-8741.2016.04.01.3Keywords:
Risk, arsenic, cancer, Bangladesh.Abstract
Arsenic-caused cancers in Bangladesh, arising from both water and food sources of arsenic (As) are characterized. The results indicate countrywide incremental As cancer cases as 1.27 million, a number which will increase by 1.2% per year unless a sustainable removal technology for As from groundwater is implemented. The site-specific magnitude of the incremental cancer, driven by local groundwater conditions is demonstrated where, for example, in Chandpur, 4% of the districts’ population will develop cancer due to As intake.
On average, 46% of the As body burden for Bangladeshis comes directly from water and 54% from food, although the range of percentages varies significantly from one district to the next, from a low of 0% water-based intake (indicating entire body burden from food sources) in the district of Dhaka, to a high of 91% in Chandpur. It is noteworthy that residents of Dhaka, since they are only exposed to food-related As, will see an estimated 42,000 incremental cancer cases.
Treating drinking water to the Bangladeshi standard of 50µg/L would decrease incremental cancer cases in Bangladesh by 353,000; further reduction to the WHO standard of 10µg/L would reduce the number of incremental cancer cases by an additional 298,000.
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