Additional danger of arsenic exposure through inhalation from burning of cow dung cakes laced with arsenic as a fuel in arsenic affected villages in Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain

Arup Pal; Bishwajit Nayak; Bhaskar Das; M Amir Hossain; Sad Ahamed; Dipankar Chakraborti

doi:10.1039/b709339j

Additional danger of arsenic exposure through inhalation from burning of cow dung cakes laced with arsenic as a fuel in arsenic affected villages in Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain

J Environ Monit. 2007 Oct;9(10):1067-70. doi: 10.1039/b709339j. Epub 2007 Sep 6.

Authors

Arup Pal¹, Bishwajit Nayak, Bhaskar Das, M Amir Hossain, Sad Ahamed, Dipankar Chakraborti

Affiliation

¹ School of Environmental Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. dcsoesju@vsnl.com

PMID: 17909640
DOI: 10.1039/b709339j

Abstract

In arsenic contaminated areas of the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra (GMB) plain (area 569,749 sq. km; population over 500 million) where traditionally cow dung cake is used as a fuel in unventilated ovens for cooking purposes, people are simply exposed to 1859.2 ng arsenic per day through direct inhalation, of which 464.8 ng could be absorbed in respiratory tract.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants / adverse effects
Air Pollutants / analysis
Animals
Arsenic / administration & dosage*
Arsenic / analysis*
Arsenic Poisoning / epidemiology
Cattle
Cooking*
Energy-Generating Resources*
Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
Environmental Exposure / analysis*
Feces / chemistry*
Humans
India / epidemiology
Inhalation Exposure / adverse effects
Inhalation Exposure / analysis*
Particulate Matter / analysis
Particulate Matter / chemistry
Rural Health / statistics & numerical data

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Arsenic