Pritha Pal¹* and Ajanta Halder²

¹Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

*Corresponding Author: Pritha Pal, Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, Swami Vivekananda University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Received: November 17, 2021; Published: December 16, 2021

Abstract

Heavy metal toxicity has been playing an important role in the development of cancer. The presence of metals like nickel, arsenic, lead etc. in the soils may turn out to be carcinogenic, by means of their adverse impact on human health. Although arsenic has a therapeutic value in the treatment of certain diseases like promyelocytic leukemia, syphilis, psoriasis, asthma, rheumatism, haemorrhoids, cough and pruritus, its toxicity is a major concern now a days, since it is an established carcinogen. Arsenic can cause acute as well as chronic toxicity. The acute toxicity is manifested through its presence in urine and blood, while its chronic toxicity can be detected by its presence in keratin containing tissues like hair, skin and nails. This metal has shown to exert its toxicity in various internal organs like lung, liver, kidney, gastro intestinal tract, bladder, spleen etc. including skin. It has been well established fact that arsenic has a strong association with the development of skin, bladder, lung carcinoma. Moreover, its association with oral carcinoma is also studied as an emerging area of research in the field of metal toxicity impact on human cancers.

Keywords: Arsenic; Toxicity; Cancer; Carcinogen; Acute; Chronic

References

1. Singh AP., et al. “Mechanisms pertaining to arsenic toxicity”. Toxicology International2 (2011): 87-93.
2. Su CC., et al. “Incidence of oral cancer in relation to nickel and arsenic concentrations in farm soils of patients’ residential areas in Taiwan”. BMC Public Health 10 (2010): 67.
3. Ratnaike RN. “Acute and chronic arsenic toxicity”. Postgraduate Medical Journal 79 (2003): 391-396.
4. Chatterjee A and Sarkar I. “Water plant lag in arsenic belt”. The Telegraph (2011).
5. Mahanta A. “Potable water as thirst choice”. The Telegraph (2005).
6. Chakraborti D., et al. “Status of groundwater arsenic contamination in the state of West Bengal, India: a 20-year study report”. Molecular Nutrition and Food Research 53 (2009), 542-551.
7. Joshi VK. “Arsenic free water, at last”. The Telegraph (2008).
8. Pal P., et al. “Oral Carcinoma, HPV Infection, Arsenic Exposure- their Correlation in West Bengal, India”. Otolaryngology, Open Access5 (2016): 266.
9. Pal P., et al. “Study of arsenic exposure in oral/oropharyngeal carcinoma in West Bengal”. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health2 (2017): 271-279.
10. Pal P and Halder A. “Is There Any Role of Arsenic Toxicity in HPV Related Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma?” Biological Trace Element Research (2018).
11. Das N., et al. “Arsenic exposure through drinking water increases the risk of liver and cardiovascular diseases in the population of West Bengal, India”. BMC Public Health 12 (2012): 639.
12. Mondal D., et al. “Comparison of drinking water, raw rice and cooking of rice as arsenic exposure routes in three contrasting areas of West Bengal, India”. Environmental Geochemistry and Health 32 (2010): 463-477.
13. Pal P., et al. “Correlation of Arsenic Toxicity with Oral/ Oropharyngeal Malignancy in West Bengal”. Indian Journal of Human Genetics, Supplement 1. 20 (2014): S82.
14. Singh AL., et al. “Effect of Arsenic Contaminated Drinking Water on Human Chromosome: A Case Study”. Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry4 (2013): 422-425.
15. Lynch HN., et al. “Quantitative assessment of lung and bladder cancer risk and oral exposure to inorganic arsenic: Meta-regression analyses of epidemiological data”. Environment International (2017): pii: S0160-4120 (16)30336-1.
16. Matschullat J. “Arsenic in the geosphere—a review”. The Science of the Total Environment 249 (2000): 297-312.
17. De Gregori I., et al. “Monitoring of copper, arsenic and antimony levels in agricultural soils impacted and non-impacted by mining activities, from three regions in Chile”. Journal of Environmental Monitoring 2 (2003): 287-295.
18. Steinmaus C., et al. “Dietary intake and arsenic methylation in a U.S. population”. Environmental Health Perspective 113 (2005): 1153-1159.
19. Nickson R., et al. “Current knowledge on the distribution of arsenic in groundwater in five states of India”. Journal of Environmental Science and Health 42 (2007): 1707-1718.
20. Washington DC. “Arsenic in drinking water”. National Academy Press: National Research Council (NRC) (2001).
21. Kinniburgh DG and Smedley PL. “Arsenic contamination of ground water in Bangladesh: Volume 2: Final report”. Keyworth, Nottinghamshire: British Geological Survey (2001).
22. Chowdhury UK., et al. “Groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India”. Environmental Health Perspective 108 (2000): 393-397.
23. Guha Mazumder DN., et al. “Arsenic levels in drinking water and the prevalence of skin lesions in West Bengal, India”. International Journal of Epidemiology 27 (1998): 871-877.
24. Mandal BK., et al. “Arsenic in ground water in seven districts of West Bengal, India-the biggest arsenic calamity in the world”. Current Science 70 (1996): 976-986.
25. Banerjee N and Giri A. “Arsenic Induced Health Effects, Genetic Damage and Genetic Variants in the Population Exposed to Arsenic through Drinking Water in West Bengal”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 3 (2014): 565-581.
26. Bronstein AC., et al. “Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 28th Annual Report”. Clinical Toxicology (Phila)10 (2011): 91041.
27. Singh AL., et al. “Effect of Arsenic Contaminated Drinking Water on Human Chromosome: A Case Study”. Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry4 (2013): 422-425.
28. Edmonds JS and Francesconi KA. “Transformations of arsenic in the marine environment”. Experimentia 43 (1987): 553-557.
29. Buchet JP., et al. “Assessment of exposure to inorganic arsenic, a human carcinogen, due to the consumption of seafood”. Archives of Toxicology 70 (1996): 773-778.
30. Han B., et al. “Estimation of target hazard quotients and potential health risks for metals by consumption of seafood in Taiwan”. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 35 (1998): 711-720.
31. Thomas KW., et al. “Population-based dietary intakes and tap water concentrations for selected elements in the EPA region V. National Human Exposure Assessment Survey (NHEXAS)”. Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 9 (1999): 402-413.
32. Tripathi RM., et al. “Arsenic intake by the adult population in Bombay city”. Science of the Total Environment 208 (1997): 89-95.
33. Kwong YL and Todd D. “Delicious poison: arsenic trioxide for the treatment of leukemia [letter]”. Blood 89 (1997): 3487-3488.
34. Tamaki S., et al. “Environmental biochemistry of arsenic”. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 124 (1992): 79-110.
35. Banerjee N and Giri A. “Arsenic Induced Health Effects, Genetic Damage and Genetic Variants in the Population Exposed to Arsenic through Drinking Water in West Bengal”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 3 (2014): 565-581.
36. Banerjee M., et al. “High arsenic in rice is associated with elevated genotoxic effects in humans”. Scientific Reports 3 (2013): 2195.
37. Abernathy CO., et al. “Arsenic: health effects, mechanisms of actions, and research issues”. Environmental Health Perspective 107 (1999): 593-597.

Citation

Citation: Pritha Pal and Ajanta Halder. “Arsenic in Ground Water: A Possible Impact on Oral Health". Acta Scientific Dental Sciences 6.1 (2022): 56-60.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2022 Pritha Pal and Ajanta Halder. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.