The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been considering a more stringent regulation of arsenic in water. A significant reduction in the maximum contaminant level (MCL) could increase compliance costs for water utilities. This book discusses the adequacy of the current EPA MCL for protecting human health in the context of stated EPA policy and provides an unbiased scientific basis for deriving the arsenic standard for drinking water and surface water.
Arsenic in Drinking Water evaluates epidemiological data on the carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic health effects of arsenic exposure of Taiwanese populations and compares those effects with the effects of arsenic exposure demonstrated in other countries—including the United States.
The book also reviews data on toxicokinetics, metabolism, and mechanism and mode of action of arsenic to ascertain how these data could assist in assessing human health risks from arsenic exposures. This volume recommends specific changes to improve the toxicity analyses and risk characterization. The implications of the changes for EPA's current MCL for arsenic are also described.
- Arsenic in Drinking Water
- Copyright
- Other Reports of the Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
- Preface
- Contents
- Executive Summary
- THE CHARGE TO THE SUBCOMMITTEE
- THE SUBCOMMITTEE'S APPROACH TO ITS CHARGE
- THE SUBCOMMITTEE'S EVALUATION
- Health Effects
- Disposition (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion)
- Mechanism or Mode of Action
- Variation in Human Sensitivity
- Other Considerations
- RISK CHARACTERIZATION
- 1 Introduction
- BACKGROUND
- SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSIES
- ORGANIZATION OF THIS REPORT
- REFERENCES
- 2 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 1988 Risk Assessment for Arsenic
- OVERVIEW OF THE EPA 1988 SPECIAL REPORT
- Hazard Identification
- Dose-Response Assessment
- Nutritional Essentiality
- EPA'S 1988 RISK ASSESSMENT: 10 YEARS LATER
- Data Limitations
- Estimating Risk in the United States
- SUMMARY
- REFERENCES
- 3 Chemistry and Analysis of Arsenic Species in Water, Food, Urine, Blood, Hair, and Nails
- SUMMARY OF ARSENIC COMPOUNDS IN WATER AND FOOD
- RELEVANT CHEMICAL CONSIDERATIONS
- Is Arsenic Similar to Phosphorus?
- Affinity Of Arsenic For Sulfur
- Biomethylation of Arsenic
- Some Geo-chemical Considerations: Absorption and Redox
- Microbial Activity and Arsenic Mobilization
- Free Radical and Peroxy Species
- ANALYSIS OF ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
- Hydride Generation with Speciation
- Hidden Arsenic Species
- Arsenic(III) Species
- Chromatographic Separation of Involatile Arsenic Species
- Mass Spectrometry for Arsenic Speciation
- ARSENIC IN WATER
- Arsenic in Groundwater
- Arsenic in Fresh Surface Water
- Arsenic in Estuarine Water
- Practical Quantification Level for Arsenic in Drinking Water
- ARSENIC IN FOOD
- Total-Arsenic Concentrations
- Studies of Arsenic Speciation in Food
- Higher-Level Speciation Studies of Food
- The Nature of Arsenic in Plants
- ARSENIC IN URINE, BLOOD, HAIR, AND NAILS
- Arsenic in Urine
- Total Arsenic in Urine
- Arsenic Species in Urine
- Collection and Storage of Urine Samples for Arsenic Speciation Analysis
- Arsenic Species in Blood
- Arsenic in Hair and Fingernails
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 4 Health Effects of Arsenic
- CANCER EFFECTS
- Ecological Studies
- Cohort Studies
- Case-Control Studies
- Occupational Studies
- NONCANCER EFFECTS
- Cutaneous Effects
- Gastrointestinal Effects
- Cardiovascular Effects
- Hematological Effects
- Pulmonary Effects
- Immunological Effects
- Neurological Effects
- Endocrinological Effects
- Reproductive and Developmental Effects
- Epidemiological Associations
- Animal Data
- Placental Transfer
- Pathogenesis and Possible Mechanisms of Teratogenesis
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 5 Disposition of Inorganic Arsenic
- ABSORPTION
- BIOTRANSFORMATION
- Arsenate Reduction and Arsenite Methylation
- Species Differences
- Factors Influencing the Metabolism of Arsenic
- TRANSPORTATION, DISTRIBUTION, AND ELIMINATION
- Transportation in Blood
- Tissue Distribution
- Intracellular Distribution
- Elimination
- KINETIC MODEL
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 6 Biomarkers of Arsenic Exposure
- ARSENIC IN URINE
- ARSENIC IN BLOOD
- ARSENIC IN HAIR AND NAILS
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 7 Mechanisms of Toxicity
- CANCER EFFECTS
- Results from Bioassays
- Inorganic Arsenic
- Monomethylarsonic Acid (MMA)
- Dimethylarsinic Acid (DMA)
- Relevance of Findings of Bioassays to Humans
- Mode of Action
- Genotoxic Effects Induced by Arsenic Compounds
- Mutational Spectrum
- Comutagenicity
- DNA Methylation
- Oxidative Stress
- Cell Proliferation
- Arsenic-Induced Carcinogenicity and the Shape of Dose-Response Curve—A Mode-of-Action Approach
- NONCANCER EFFECTS
- Inhibitory Effects on Cellular Respiration
- Alterations in the Heme and Porphyrin Biosynthetic Pathways
- Alterations in Cellular Gene Expression-Stress Protein Induction
- Arsenic Toxicity and Metallothionein
- Arsine Gas Toxicity
- Interactions Between Arsenic and Other Common Toxic Metals
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 8 Variation in Human Sensitivity
- VARIATION IN ARSENIC METABOLISM
- Methodological Aspects
- Genetic Polymorphism
- Age, Sex, and Recreational Habits
- Effect of Dose
- Interindividual Variation
- NUTRITIONAL STATUS
- Methyl Group Donors
- Selenium
- Zinc
- Nutritional Status of Populations in Taiwan
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 9 Essentiality and Therapeutic Uses
- DEFINITION OF ESSENTIALITY
- EVIDENCE FOR ESSENTIALITY
- Physiological Importance
- Essentiality in Humans
- Goats and Minipigs
- Rats
- Chicks
- Data Consistency and Reproducibility
- Biochemical Mechanism of Action
- Dose Aspects
- THERAPEUTIC USES OF ARSENIC
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 10 Statistical Issues
- A REVIEW OF DOSE-RESPONSE MODELING AND RISK ASSESSMENT
- THE EPA 1988 ANALYSIS
- Sources of Uncertainty in the EPA 1988 Analysis
- PROBLEMS WITH RISK ASSESSMENT BASED ON ECOLOGICAL DATA
- INTERNAL-CANCER DATA FROM TAIWAN
- OTHER ISSUES
- DISCUSSION
- SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
- RECOMMENDATIONS
- REFERENCES
- 11 Risk Characterization
- Addendum to Chapter 9 Experimental Conditions for Nutritional Studies with Arsenic
- RATS AND CHICKS
- REFERENCES
- Addendum to Chapter 10 Table A10-1 Internal Cancer Data From Arsenic-exposure Studies Conducted Taiwan Region Endemic To...
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