Entry of Arsenic into Food Material - A CAse Study

EPA has classified inorganic Arsenic (as) as a Group A, human carcinogen. Along with water and soil as also entered into the food chain prominently around the Gangetic belt of Bangladesh and India thus, posing threat on the exposed population. Therefore, the study was undertaken to investigate the entry of as in food materials along the levee of river Ganges in Bihar (India). Water samples were collected from Hand Tube Wells, soil and four representative food samples Wheat, Rice, Pulse and Maize, from the agricultural land. A standard Silver Diethyle Dithio Carbamate (SDDC) method was adopted to analyze the samples for as using Thermo (UV-1) Spectrophotometer. Per capita consumption of water through drinking and cooking sources was also calculated. Water samples were highly intoxicated with a mean value of 0.141mg/l (n=20). The mean value of as in soil was 0.027mg/kg (n=6). All food samples were as positive. Wheat recorded the maximum (0.024mg/kg) and the minimum was in maize (0.011mg/kg). These local food crops provide the majority of the nutritional intake of the people in this area. Poor nutrition and dependency on these contaminated water and food sources are therefore of great importance to their overall health.