Arsenic in the Water
Evidently arsenic in drinking water is much bigger deal than scientists have long thought. Get a load of this Reuters report:
Arsenic can cause lung disease and cancers, even long after people stop drinking contaminated water, said Peter Ravenscroft, a researcher at the University of Cambridge.
“What is new is, the extent of arsenic pollution is much bigger than people realized,” Mr. Ravenscroft said in a telephone interview.
“There is a very important connection between arsenic in water and arsenic in food, especially where people grow irrigated crops.”
World Health Organization guidelines set a safe limit of 10 parts per billion of arsenic in water supplies, but tens of millions of people in the world drink unsafe water above that level, researchers said.
