Paras Hemrajani
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Written By: Paras Hemrajani | Updated : August 27, 2019 8:03 PM IST
Carbon-based arsenic will directly affect your blood and the oxygen it contains. © Shutterstock
Dhaka was in the news recently for the death of 12,000 people due to arsenic poisoning. They used well-water contaminated with arsenic.
Arsenic is naturally occurring chemical metalloid. It shares many qualities with metals and is used as a doping agent, to kill insects on cotton and for making special glasses. As useful as it may be, arsenic is very stubborn, and it does not dissolve in water. This makes it one of the deadliest elements out there.
Arsenic poisoning, also known as Arsenicosis, happens when a person is exposed to dangerous levels of this substance. You may inhale it, swallow it or your body may absorb it. An individual is exposed to it through contaminated groundwater, arsenic-preserved wood, irrigation of food crops, eating contaminated food, industrial processes, smoking tobacco and infected soil or rock
Since, arsenic is a naturally occurring substance, the geographical location of a country may decide the level of arsenic present in its soil and water. It is also a by-product of mining, coal burning and copper smelting. This poison is mostly found in mine tailings, that is, the waste left over after any mining activity.
There must be rules that prohibit disposal of waste into the sea. It will contaminate the water cycle and adversely affect animal life. A study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010 suggests that contaminated vegetables may be the biggest contributor to dietary exposure to arsenic with more than 24 per cent intake responsibility. Fruits and fruit juices are next with 18 per cent and rice at 17 per cent.
You must regularly check your water for arsenic levels. The Environment Protection Agency, USA, suggests that the level of arsenic in drinking water should not be higher than 10 ppb. Contact your state certification officer immediately if you have never done it before.
Common symptoms of arsenic poisoning are abdominal pain, vomiting, drowsiness, confusion, headaches, a metallic taste in the mouth and garlicky breath, stomach cramps, problems swallowing, watery diarrhoea that contains blood and encephalopathy. If you exhibit any of these symptoms, contact your doctor immediately. An individual with an acute case of arsenic toxicity will die within 4 hours if not administered the right treatment as soon as possible.
Arsenic poisoning may place you at risk of serious health complications. Let us take a look at a few of them.
Spontaneous abortion is when you miscarry before 20 weeks of gestation without any outside intervention. According to US National Library of Medicine, arsenic exposure in pregnant woman disrupts the placental vasculogenesis and causes spontaneous abortion. If not spontaneous abortion, it can cause developmental defects.
Arsenic ingestion can cause cancers of the bladder, kidney, liver, prostate, lung and skin. According to Journal of the National Cancer Institute in USA, arsenic has the power to create cancer cells even after the exposure ends. It can wait in silence even for a decade before disrupting the metabolic system of your body. The amount of carcinogen substances found in arsenic is too high and has the ability to damage the genome or disrupt the cellular metabolic processes.
It increases blood glucose level, which in turn affects insulin secretion. A new study in American Journal of Physiology reports that long-lasting exposure to arsenic affects insulin secretion in the pancreas and leads to the development of diabetes.
If you expos tubule to arsenic, chances are it will cause acute renal failure. It attacks the cortical necrosis and exposes the kidneys to several other problems including proteinuria.
It can destroy the axonal cylinders, leading to peripheral neuropathy. Painful dysesthesia, ascending weakness and paralysis are all part of arsenic toxicity.
Skin lesions are very common in this kind of poisoning. These are usually visible near the axillae, eyelids, groin, neck, nipples and temples. They are dark brown in colour with scattered pale spots. These lesions cause hyperkeratosis, hyperpigmentation and even skin cancer.
Arsenic, when inhaled, destroys the mucosa in the nose and causes nasal septum perforation. When it reaches the lungs, it takes the form of cancer, as seen in several cases of smelter and pesticide workers.
Your doctor will decide on the treatment option on the basis of the severity of arsenic poisoning. For this, he will examine your hair and fingernails among other things. He may then recommend any of the following options.
Exposure to carbon-based arsenic will directly affect your blood and the oxygen it contains. Blood transfusion is mostly the first line of treatment. A blood transfusion is a procedure where the donated blood enters your body directly via a vein in the arm through a narrow tube.
A special solution is injected into your body. This passes through the gastrointestinal tract and destroys traces of arsenic in the body.
Chemicals like dimercaprol and dimercaptosuccinic acid are injected into the body through radiation. These isolate the arsenic and offer protection to blood proteins.
