This review details the known health effects of arsine as well as the existing theories on the mechanism by which arsine exerts its toxic effect and conditions of occupational exposure to this gas. Exposure to arsine in occupational settings occurs mostly in the chemical and metallurgical industries when nascent hydrogen reacts with metallic arsenic or arsenic compounds. The available data indi...

After 150 years of industrial activity, significant pollution of surface soils in private gardens and locally produced vegetables with lead, cadmium, and arsenic has recently been observed in Viviez (Southern France). A public health intervention was conducted in 2008 to identify individual health risks of Viviez inhabitants and to analyze their environmental exposure to these pollutants. Child...

In this month's issue, investigators Charles V. Shorten and Marijane K. Hooven of West Chester University in Pennsylvania report on a method that may give a more realistic measure of the exposure of preschool children to lead-contaminated dust [EHP 108:663-666]. Shorten and Hooven set out to assess the relationship between 168 preschool children attending Philadelphia Head Start programs and va...

Since 1955, a number of outbreaks of arsenic poisoning have occurred throughout Japan among industrial workers and the general population. The sources and types of exposure differ according to the incident, and the victims vary in sex and age. These incidents include arsenic poisoning in milk, soy sauce, and well water, pollution originating from the Toroku Mine on the island of Kyushu, the Mat...

Poisoning with depilatory agents is a rather uncommon entity in western countries. In this study, we describe poisoning with a corrosive arsenic-based depilatory agent (CABD) and factors related to its mortality in a poisoning center in Tehran. In a retrospective study, the medical records of all patients with CABD intoxication who attended the emergency ward of Loghman-Hakim hospital, the only...

1066 C RE D IT S: (T O P TO B O TT O M ) PA V EL R A H M A N /A P; D .M A C K EN Z IE CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—The British Geological Survey (BGS) is girding for a court battle over claims that it could have averted a wave of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh over the past decade. A High Court judge in London last week gave the go-ahead for a trial pitting two Bangladeshi residents against BGS’s parent bo...

Arsenic is a ubiquitous, naturally occurring metalloid that may be a significant risk factor for cancer after exposure to contaminated drinking water, cigarettes, foods, industry, occupational environment, and air. Among the various routes of arsenic exposure, drinking water is the largest source of arsenic poisoning worldwide. Arsenic exposure from ingested foods usually comes from food crops ...