Toxic Risk Assessment of Arsenic in Males Through Drinking Water in Tharparkar Region of Sindh, Pakistan

• Published in: Biological trace element research 2016-07, Vol.172 (1), p.61-71
• Main Authors: Brahman, Kapil Dev, Tasneem Gul Kazi, Hassan Imran Afridi, Sadaf Sadia Arain, Atif Gul Kazi, Farah Naz Talpur, Jameel Ahmed Baig, Abdul Haleem Panhwar, Mariam Shezadi Arain, Jamshed Ali, Mohammad Balal Arain, Naeemullah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; air; Arsenic; Arsenic - analysis; Arsenic content; Arsenic Poisoning - epidemiology; at-risk population; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Carcinogenesis; Dominant species; Drinking water; Drinking Water - analysis; groundwater; Hair; Hair - chemistry; Hair analysis; hairs; Hazards; Humans; Life Sciences; Male; Males; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Oncology; Pakistan - epidemiology; risk; Risk Assessment; Toxicity; Water analysis; Water sampling; World Health Organization; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0163-4984; 1559-0720
• DOI: 10.1007/s12011-015-0567-1

Humans are exposed to arsenic (As) through air, drinking water, and food. The arsenic (As) hazardous quotient was calculated on the basis of its concentration in drinking water of different origin and scalp hair of male subjects (n = 313), residents of different exposed and non-exposed areas of Sindh, Pakistan. The total As was determined in water and scalp hair samples, while As species were determined in water samples by advance extraction methodologies. The total As concentrations in drinking water of less-exposed (LE) and high-exposed (HE) areas was found to be 2.63 to 4.46 and 52 to 235, fold higher than the permissible limit, respectively, than recommended by World Health Organization (2004) for drinking water. While the levels of As in drinking water of non-exposed (NE) areas was within the permissible limit. The resulted data indicated that the dominant species was As⁺⁵ in groundwater samples. The levels of As in scalp hair samples of male subjects of two age groups (18–30 and 31–50 years), belonging to NE, LE, and HE areas, ranged from 0.26 to 0.69, 0.58 to 1.34, and 15.6 to 60.9 μg/g, respectively. A significant correlation between As levels in drinking water and scalp hair was observed in HE area (r = 0.86–0.90, p