Water Quality

Facts About Arsenic

[Arsenic: a trivalent and pentavalent solid poisonous element that is commonly metallic steel-gray, crystalline, and brittle.]

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) established an arsenic standard of 50 ppb in 1975, based on a Public Health Service standard originally established in 1942, and before arsenic was known to cause cancer. In January, 2001, after 25 years of public comment and debate, millions of dollars in research, and at least three missed statutory deadlines, the EPA lowered the standard to 10 parts per billion. Then on March 20, 2001, the Bush administration withdrew the EPA's recently revised standard of 10 ppb.

The National Academy of Sciences found in its 1999 report, Arsenic in Drinking Water, that:

• The 1942 arsenic standard, which was in place at the time, "does not achieve EPA's goal for public health protection."
• Drinking water at the 50 ppb standard "could easily" result in one in 100 persons getting cancer.
• That's a cancer risk 10,000 times higher than EPA allows for contaminants in food, and 100 times higher than EPA has ever allowed for tap water contaminants.
• The Academy recommended that the standard be lowered "as promptly as possible."
• The new 10 ppb standard is identical to the one adopted several years ago by the European Union and the World Health Organization

Arsenic is one of the most prevalent contaminants of health concern in drinking water, and is present in the tap water of over 12 million Americans at a concentration above 10 ppb. Studies have linked long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver, and prostate. Non-cancer effects of ingesting arsenic include cardiovascular, pulmonary, immunological, neurological, and endocrine (e.g., diabetes) effects.

For more information, please contact George Sorvalis at the Sierra Club at george.sorvalis@sierraclub.org  

Source: http://www.sierraclub.org/cleanwater/waterquality/arsenic/facts.asp