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Arsenic in Food Web: An Alert for Public Health

Author: Md. Hedayetullah* and Champak Kumar Kundu

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Abstract

Arsenic in groundwater and its contamination in food stuff are found severely in India. Groundwater resources are quite rich in both bank of river Ganges and a major part of the groundwater is arsenic contaminated and used for drinking, agricultural and industrial purposes. The concentration of arsenic (As) in groundwater exceeds the guideline concentration set internationally and nationally at 10 μg L-1. Contaminated ground water is also used for irrigation and this makes it possible for arsenic to enter the human food chain through locally grown food, fodder, forage crops and vegetables. Some cases of arsenic also found in the poultry bird, cow, milk, fish and shellfish; ultimately As comes in food web and causes many health disorder. Rice and root vegetables absorb more amount of Arsenic and they act as a major source of exposure. Agricultural produces transport arsenic affected areas to non affected area resulting arsenic exposure in surroundings. This reviewed article discusses

Keywords

Arsenic exposure, agricultural crops, foodstuffs, health effect.

Conclusion

The studies discussed in the review point to expand the problem of As in food, fodder, vegetables and its transportation from production areas to non-production areas or import zones. However, it must be observed that most of the available studies were conducted only for arsenic soil, water and foods. The present study emphasizes the distribution of As contaminated foods which is affects human health. Adoption of agronomic management in situ for crop production is to mitigate the arsenic load in food chain. Current focus of “National As Policy” and “Implementation Plan on providing safe foods and drinking water should be more emphasize. There have an ample scope of future research of arsenic in food web and its adverse effect in human health.

References

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How to cite this article

Md. Hedayetullah and Kundu, C. K. (2021). Arsenic in Food Web: An Alert for Public Health. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 13(3): 621-624