Arsenic pollution of drinking water is as harmful as smoking for decades

Groundwater in many countries, including the United States, contains high levels of natural arsenic A new study finds that if arsenic levels in drinking water reach unsafe levels, it can harm the lungs, equivalent to the harm of smoking for decades Arsenic is a famous toxin, which exists in rocks, water and soil In some areas, industrial production activities will increase arsenic levels To study the effects of arsenic on the lungs, the researchers examined what happens when arsenic levels in drinking water are twice as high as those allowed by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, which is found in drinking water in Bangladesh However, Bangladesh is not the only country with high arsenic content in drinking water In Argentina, Chile, China, India, Mexico and the United States, parts of these countries also have high levels of natural arsenic In 2000, a study found that the arsenic content of tap water that tens of millions of Americans drink is not safe Since then, the EPA has stated that drinking water for all Americans must meet safety standards However, the investigation found that there are still problems in private wells and public wells Just last year, another famous American media survey found that many American foods, especially rice products, contain high levels of arsenic Arsenic can enter crops through the soil on which it grows and the water it uses to irrigate it Doctors have learned that if arsenic levels in drinking water reach dangerous levels, people will have a higher risk of systemic disease after drinking, causing damage to the nervous system, gastrointestinal system, kidney, liver and immune system, increasing the risk of diabetes and heart disease Arsenic is one of the few chemicals in water that have been identified as cancer-related, and may be associated with lung cancer In the new study, public health researchers from the United States and Bangladesh collected samples of drinking water for 20000 volunteers who lived in different wells in Bangladesh The researchers also took urine samples from volunteers to determine arsenic levels in the body and tested their vital capacity The researchers found that the higher the arsenic content in volunteers, the smaller their vital capacity Several researchers from the University of Chicago, who are part of the team, have shown that the decline in lung capacity in volunteers is comparable to that caused by long-term smoking In the 1970s, humanitarian organizations first dug deep wells in Bangladesh, where thousands of Bangladeshi children died every year of waterborne diseases such as cholera Aid organizations look for more "clean" water sources, avoiding sources closer to the surface In the 1990s, researchers found that deep-water wells contained high levels of arsenic, but people were still drinking the water The EPA has identified several effective ways to remove arsenic from drinking water, but these methods are clearly not used in wells in Bangladesh In a statement from the World Health Organization, American epidemiologist Alan Smith called the situation in Bangladesh "the largest group poisoning event in history" Recently, the team published the results of the study on vital capacity in the American Journal of respiratory and emergency care medicine.