ABSTRACT
Skin lesions are recognized as one of the most sensitive end points of chronic arsenicism. Investigations identified raindrop pigmentation, hypo-and hyper-pigmentation and palmo-plantar hyperkeratosis, which are the signs of chronic arsenic toxicity. The three major arsenic-induced health effects i.e. neuropathy, respiratory and eye
1 INTRODUCTION
Arsenic, a pandemic concern, affects more than 70 nations in the world. Consumption of arsenicladen water, above the threshold limit of 10 μg/L, causes serious multiorgan health problem, cancer and early mortality. Despite of the similar exposure over prolonged period, only 15-20% of the exposed population showed characteristic phenotypic features of arsenicosis; which indicates genetic variations play important role in arsenic susceptibility. In arsenic-mitigation strategies, it was attempted to reduce the overall arsenic load in supplied drinking water. Our objective was to identify whether arsenic remediation in drinking water has any beneficial role in the betterment of health effects. Literatures suggest that rice arsenic content can be a major exposure route besides water. Since, rice is a staple food in our population, and 42-100% of the rice arsenic content is inorganic and toxic, hence, we are interested to look at whether rice arsenic content on its own is sufficient to give rise to toxic effects. Overall, we have investigated arsenic-induced health effects, cytogenetic damages, role of genetic variants and alternative source of arsenic exposure in our population.
