ABSTRACT
The public health concerns for environmental exposure to arsenic has been recognized for decades. However, recent human activities have resulted in even greater arsenic exposures and the potential increase for chronic arsenic poisoning on a worldwide basis. The natural sources of arsenic exposure vary from burning of arsenic-rich coal (China) and mining activities (Malaysia, Japan) to the ingestion of arsenic-contaminated drinking water (e.g., Taiwan, Mexico, Chile, Bangladesh). The groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh and the West Bengal Delta of India has received the greatest international attention because of the large number of people potentially exposed and the high prevalence of arsenic-induced disease. This presentation will focus on providing a medical geology perspective on arsenic as an environmental and medicinal agent.
