Arsenic poisoning measure developed

Last Modified: 28 Aug 2008
Source: PA News

A pioneering solution to the world's worst case of mass poisoning has been found by scientists, it has been claimed.

Over 70 million people in eastern India and Bangladesh are exposed to arsenic - linked to rising cancer rates through contaminated drinking water and rice.

Researchers from Queen's University Belfast have created a world-first low-cost technology to make groundwater for farming and consuming safe. A trial plant has been built near Calcutta.

In the Bengal delta region alone there are 10 million people and one in 100 may die from skin cancer, the university claimed.

Queen's project co-ordinator Dr Bhaskar Sen Gupta said: "While there are some techniques available for treating relatively small quantities of water, there has until now been no viable technology available for decontaminating groundwater on a large scale that can ensure safe irrigation and potable water. This project developed by Queen's is the only method which is eco-friendly, easy to use and deliverable to the rural community user at an affordable cost."

Arsenic is a semi-metallic naturally-occurring chemical. It is difficult to detect as it is generally odourless and flavourless. Its consumption leads to higher rates of some cancers, including tumours of the lung, bladder and skin, and other lung conditions. Some of these effects show up decades after the first exposure.

In the long-term, one in every 10 people with high concentrations of arsenic in their water will die from it. This is the highest known increase in mortality from any environmental exposure.

In order to avoid drinking surface water, which can be contaminated with bacteria causing diarrhoea and other diseases, aid agencies had been promoting the digging of wells, not suspecting that well water would emerge with elevated levels of arsenic.

Rice is usually grown in paddy fields, often flooded with water from the same wells. Arsenic is drawn up into the grains which are used for food.

Queen's' technology works by putting oxygen into groundwater then returning it in to permeable rock below the surface. Increased levels of oxygen slow arsenic release from the soil.

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