Arsenic occurrence in groundwater in South and East Asia

The detrimental health effects of environmental exposure to arsenic have become increasingly clear in the last few years. Drinking water constitutes one of the principal pathways of environmental arsenic exposure in humans and high concentrations found in groundwater from a number of aquifers across the world have been found responsible for health problems ranging from skin disorders to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Food represents a further potential exposure pathway to arsenic, particularly where crops are irrigated with high-arsenic groundwater or where food is cooked in high-arsenic water. However, the relative impact on human health is as yet unquantified and in need of further study.