Is there arsenic in your well water?

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Health Concerns:
Arsenic in Your Water

• Risks to Children
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  "Children who are exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water are seven to 12 times more likely to die of lung cancer or other lung diseases in young adulthood, a new study by the University of California, Berkeley and Chilean researchers suggests."

  UC Berkeley Press Release 3/27/06

  "Verbal IQ and long term memory can also be affected, and As can suppress hormone regulation and hormone mediated gene transcription. Increases in fetal loss and premature delivery, and decreased birth weights of infants, can occur even al low (<10 micrograms/liter) exposure levels...The National Research Council also concluded that infants and children may be at greater risk for both cancer and non-cancer effects because of greater consumption via drinking water on a body-weight basis... Populations most at risk are those using private well-water as a drinking water source...attempts to lower [drinking water quality guidelines] to < 5 micrograms/liter [the New Jersey Standard] must be encouraged."

  Human Health Effects from Chronic Arsenic Poisoning - A Review Simon Kapaj et al, Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A, 41:2399-2428, 2006

• Bladder Cancer
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  "Long-term exposure to low levels of arsenic in drinking water has been linked to bladder, lung, kidney and skin cancer. Arsenic can also harm the nervous system, heart and blood vessels."

  Arsenic in Maine Groundwater. ME Drinking Water Program & ME Geological Survey. University of Maine, June 2005

  "The findings provide additional evidence that ingestion of inorganic arsenic in drinking water is indeed a cause of bladder and lung cancer. It was estimated that arsenic might account for 7% of all deaths among those aged 30 years and over. The impact of arsenic on the population mortality in Region II of Chile is greater than that reported anywhere to date from environmental exposure to a carcinogen in a major population."

  Marked Increase In Bladder and Lung Cancer Mortality in Region of Northern Chile Due to Arsenic in Drinking Water. American Journal Epidemiologic 1998; 147:660-9

  "There is sufficient evidence from several studies in several countries to conclude that ingestion of arsenic is a cause of human bladder cancer...Recent studies add to the evidence that ingestion of inorganic arsenic causes increased risks of lung cancer."

  Cancer Risks from Arsenic in Drinking Water: Implications for Drinking Water Standards. Allan H. Smith et al. Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects, W.R. Chappell et al (Editors) 1999

  "Most of the chromosomal alterations associated with arsenic exposure were also associated with tumor stage and grade, raising the possibility that bladder tumors from arsenic exposed patients may behave more aggressively than tumors from unexposed patients."

  Journal National Cancer Institute 2002;94:1688-96

• Lung Cancer
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  "The estimates of cancer risks associated with the current US drinking water standard...place arsenic at the forefront of cancer risks associated with environmental exposures. There are only two known environmental exposures with comparable risks, namely, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and radon in homes."

  Cancer Risks from Arsenic in Drinking Water Allan H. Smith el at Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 97, pp 259 -267 1992

  "[T]here is extensive human epidemiologic evidence that inhaled arsenic causes lung cancer and ingested arsenic causes skin cancer. Results from highly exposed populations have shown that ingested arsenic may cause cancer of the bladder, lung and kidney, which are cancers that have a greater impact on mortality than skin cancer...[M]ost evidence suggests that populations who are currently exposed to arsenic in their drinking water will continue to have substantially elevated cancer risks"

  Arsenic in Drinking Water and Bladder Cancer, Craig Steinmaus, M.D et al., Cancer Investigation. 18(2), 174-182 2000

  "Arsenic is unique in that it is the only agent linked to both malignant and nonmalignant lung disease after chronic ingestion."

  Epidemiology 2005; 16: 760-765

  "Arsenic in drinking water is an established cause of lung cancer...These findings suggest that exposure to arsenic in drinking water during early childhood or in utero has pronounced pulmonary effects, greatly increasing subsequent mortality in young adults from both malignant and nonmalignant lung disease."

  Environmental Health Prospect 114:1293-1296 (2006)

• Mortality
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  "The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified arsenic in drinking water as a group I carcinogen that causes skin cancer, bladder cancer, and lung cancer." "In conclusion, we have demonstrated pronounced increases in mortality from lung cancer and bronchiectasis in persons with probable exposure to high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water in utero and early childhood... A marked increase in mortality in young adults is also of public health importance and should be taken into consideration in setting arsenic drinking water standards."

  Increased Mortality from Lung Cancer and Bronchiectasis in Young Adults after Exposure to Arsenic in Utero and Early Childhood, Allen H. Smith et al, Environmental Health Perspectives, Volume 114, Number 8, August 2006

  "For the period 1950 - 1994, the northeastern part of the United States experienced higher than average mortality rates for bladder cancer in both males and females."

  Modeling the Probability of Arsenic in Groundwater in New England as a Tool for Exposure Assessment Joseph Ayotte et al, American Chemical Society 10.1021/es51972f, 4/25/2006