Project Number:
DNR-158
Other Project Number:
WR00R011
Funding Year:
2000
Contract Period:
Funding Source:
DNR
Investigator(s) and affiliations:
Lynda Knobeloch, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
Abstract:
Background: Inorganic arsenic is a well-known human poison that causes a wide array of adverse health effects. The World Health Organization and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classify inorganic arsenic as a human carcinogen. Long-term ingestion of contaminated drinking water has been found to increase the risk of skin cancer and tumors of the bladder, kidney, liver and lung. Exposure to inorganic arsenic may also cause thickening and discoloration of the skin, nausea and diarrhea, decreased production of blood cells, abnormal heart rhythm, blood vessel damage and numbness in the hands and feet. Recent investigations have also linked arsenic exposure to the development of Type II diabetes or “sugar diabetes.”