Urinary arsenic species in arsenic-affected area of West Bengal, India (Part II)

Arsenic-contamination of groundwater has long been reported in Mushidabad district of West Bengal, India. We visited 19 arsenic-affected families and 4 non-arsenic-affected families in that area during 20-22 February 2001 and collected 10 tubewell waters used for drinking and cooking and 89 urines from those families. The arsenic concentrations in waters ranged from 0.64 to 75.5 ppb. The average of arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in urine were 23.1, 59.0, 24.6 and 127.4 ng/ml urine, respectively. The average of total arsenic was 234.1 ng/ml urine. On comparison of the ratio of (MMA + DMA) to total arsenic, the average proportion of (MMA + DMA) was 75.7%, but the proportions were from 4.2 to 57.2% for I I persons. This result suggests that they might be damaged due to the arsenic-methylating capacity. When selecting the members of A to L families because of using the two same tubewell waters except 5 persons due to the luck of enough arsenic-methylating capacity, there were the good relationships (p < 0.01) between As(111) and MMA, As(III) and DMA, MMA and DMA, and DMA and total arsenic. The relationship between the arsenic concentration in tubewell waters and the averages of the total arsenic obtained from each families was not in agreement (p > 0.05). The result suggests the possibility of the contribution of other sources like foodstuffs regarding to the excretion of arsenic species from the urines.