A PROFESSOR with Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) recently published an article in Science magazine, calling for screening people suffering from arsenic exposure in domestic wells, particularly in predicted high-risk areas, as part of a larger plan to eliminate arsenic exposure in drinking water.

In the article titled “Global Solutions to a Silent Poison,” Zheng Yan, chair professor with the university’s School of Environmental Science and Engineering, discussed widespread drinking water arsenic exposure stemming from the reliance on domestic wells for a water supply in many rural communities around the world.

There is a desperate need to screen for arsenic in domestic well water in these communities, even in wealthy countries like the U.S., according to Zheng.

Zheng had previously covered this issue in a paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, in which Zheng and her co-authors found 45 million people were drinking well water containing unsafe levels of arsenic. It was leading to one death in every 18 adult deaths.

Zheng’s article in Science also looked at the most recent WHO provisional guideline values for drinking water at 10 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per liter. It is encouraging that many countries have revised their drinking water standard down from 50 micrograms per liter, with several adopting a healthier five micrograms as their standards.

However, in Bangladesh and parts of India and China, the less healthy 50 micrograms standard is still permitted for dispersed rural populations due to the lack of high-quality water sources.

Long-term exposure of inorganic arsenic has been shown to affect the development of both fetuses and infants, with long-lasting effects later in life. Plenty of studies have shown adverse health effects on many parts of the human body, possibly involving the epigenome as a mechanism of inorganic arsenic’s toxicity.

Zheng, an expert in water and health, focuses her studies on groundwater quality. Her experience extends from a Ph.D. in earth and environmental sciences from Columbia University to a water and sanitation specialist for the United Nations Children’s Fund in Bangladesh.

(Han Ximin)