An Investigation on the Effect of Arsenic Poisoning on Humans,Agriculture, and Fisheries

The purpose of this investigation is to try and understand the degree of arsenic poisoning in the waste water from agricultural chemical factories which release effluents into the waterways in their vicinity. The method of determination is to use the water samples, soil, fish, clams, shell-fish, etc. found in the areas along the canals and aqueducts and those which lie upstream, midstream, and downstream and also the hair samples of people living in the contiguous areas, to check for the levels of arsenic in them by emission spectroscopy. From the analysis during a one year investigation, we find that the level of As in the water creatures of Chungkang Stream and Lu-Er-Men Stream is much higher than in the other water areas of Taiwan such as along beaches and the other rivers; the levels in the hair of the people who live nearby these water courses have a certain degree of correspondence with their eating habits and the quantity of food eaten; however, even those people who eat relatively little have almost 3% As, beyond the 2 mg/kg limit allowed for human beings. We are fully aware of the high level of food contamination on Taiwan, and this fact has been taken into consideration. The effect of As contamination in the soil on agricultural produce does not seem to have any apparent relationship. By the way, the influence of the monthly average rainfall on As contamination in the soil is not obvious.