Remedial Measures Suggested to Curb Arsenic Poisoning

Question: Discuss about theRemedial Measures Suggested to Curb Arsenic Poisoning. Answer: Introduction: Arsenic pollution in Australia is a growing concern in the context of soil and water pollution in Australia. The main reason that has resulted in the elevated level of arsenic in the groundwater level of Australia is the various kinds of anthropogenic activities. The anthropogenic activities that need the most important mention here are the mining activities conducted in Western Australia and Victoria. Other such activities include cultivation, industrialization and forestry contaminates soil and water. Arsenic contamination is considered a major concern because it directly affects the ecological cycle of different species such as fish, mammals and even human besides affecting trees (Machlachlan et al., 2016). Metalloid infection is a leading problem that often is unnoticed by the concerned authorities because of their assumptions of such pollution having minimalistic effects on the environment as harmful contaminants. Hazards: Arsenic infection has several health hazards. Some of them include formation of acute poisoning that may even lead to death. When the exposure occurs at a lower level, it may lead to abnormal production of red and white blood corpuscles (Abdul et al., 2015). Even damage to blood vessels also takes place. It also causes darkening of the skin and the appearance of small skin irritations like the occurrence of corns and warts that becomes visible on palms, soles and body. Disease: Due to various health hazards, arsenic pollution becomes responsible for the occurrence of skin cancer, cancer in the liver, urinary bladder and in the lungs. Exposure Pathway to Arsenic: Exposure to arsenic usually occurs by ingestion of foods such as meat, fish, poultry, shellfish and many others in the form of arsenobetaine and arsenocholine, which is sometimes called as fish arsenic. Moreover, well water is often found to be polluted by arsenic present in the bedrock area and is a leading problem globally. Occupational exposure to arsenic may result from inhalation of air contaminated by arsenic usually in the form of arsenic trioxide (Naujokos et al., 2013). These particles are deposited in the respiratory tract. Those particles deposited in the upper respiratory tract may reach the gastrointestinal tract by absorption when mucociliary clearance is done. In very less researches, one can find the skin to be a pathway of exposure. However, studies have shown that persons handling wood preserved with arsenic or handling arsenic acid may lead to exposure but such instances are very few. Risk Associated with Exposed Population: A variety of population may get exposed to arsenic population. The population consuming rice is found out by scientists to be mostly affected. Australian grown organic brown organic brown grain, medium brown grain and white rice were seen to have been contaminated with arsenic with concentration in each being 43823, 28703, and 28318 g kg(-1) dry weight respectively (Rahman et al., 2014). Here we see that both occupational exposure through improper hygiene of inhalation and ingestion not only affect the farmers but also may spread to the entire nation through consumption of the cereals. Arsenic is also found to exposed to populations residing close to cattle dip sights, mined land and also in the residential suburbs of the mineralization areas (Ng et al., 2013). People living in mining areas are also highly vulnerable to arsenic infection. These populations have higher risks associated with arsenic pollution leading to lung cancer, liver lesions, skin cancer and various painful warts and corns on the skin. Importance of Selected Disease: Cancer occurring in different organs like lungs, bladder, gastrointestinal tract and others is a growing concern in not only Australia but also in the entire world and in most cases it is not curable. Persons suffering from cancer suffer physically, emotionally and financially. Data collected in the year 2012 by the Victorian Cancer Registry and Geochemical geochemical data showed that arsenic content in the soil from gold mining sits estimated around 1.4 to 1857 mg/kg. A significant increase in the risk associated with cancer resulted from increased soil arsenic contamination and thereby increases the burden of the entire cancer statistics of the country (Cancer Council Australia, 2016). DPSEEA Framework The DPSEEA framework has been used in order to discuss the interventions, which will be formulated in order to reduce the risk of the exposed population of contracting the disease. The DPSEEA framework has a structure (given in figure 1), which involves an action, that requires to be taken based on the driving force. Figure 1: The DPSEEA framework as designed based on the arsenic population and the remediation techniques suggested. (Source: Created by the author) In this scenario, the action is referred to as the interventions that have to be taken to reduce the risk of exposure of arsenic among the population. A remediation model needs to be devised in order to reduce absorption of arsenic in the system. Background on the Issue Finally, concentrating mainly on the remedial aspect, it is necessary for reducing the threat that arsenic poisoning poses to the population. The local council should work towards preventing mining activities to take place in the particular area so that further contamination can stop. The local council should also make an effort to prevent the people engaging in forestry should not use arsenic as a preservation agent for the logs. Awareness needs to be created among the farmers who cultivate rice by flooding method. If rice is being cultivated in an area whose water table has been contaminated with arsenic, the roots results into adsorbing arsenic in the grain and the shoot as well. Several industrial runoffs open into a water body. These runoffs carry wastes that are contaminated with arsenic. It leads to the contamination of the water body. The local council should make sure that the industries in the area should work towards remediating the arsenic based wastes present in their ru noffs. Remedial Techniques Remedial technique that can be suggested for reducing the cultivation. As a remedial technique in respect to cultivation, it should be stopped in such areas where the spoil is contaminated with arsenic. To avoid this, hyper accumulator plants such as species of Pteris (for example, Pteris vittata) can be planted on such contaminated soils to cure the soil (Singh et al., 2015). At the industries in and around the area contaminated with arsenic, they can apply the technology of Alcan where activated alumina is used as sorptive filtration media. Iron doped carbon, activated alumina are the main composition of the adsorbents that can be used in the industries for radiation purpose (Onby et al., 2014). Sidko is a similar adsorbent, which uses granules of ferric hydroxide. The local council can also introduce an arsenic removal unit, which consists of adsorbents that will make use of coagulation, precipitation, and filtration based processes to remove arsenic (Sorlini, Gialdini Collivigna relli, 2014). The adsorbents can be made of READ-F, which is a Ethylenevinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) - borne hydrous cerium oxide. By growing awareness among the population, the addition of potassium as a supplement in the diet can reduce chances of cardiovascular troubles caused by arsenic trioxide (Huang et al., 2014). Conclusion Arsenic poisoning is a worrying issue for several nations in the world today. The poisoning is mostly caused by the adsorption of arsenic into the system, which results into causing several diseases. A prolonged accumulation of the arsenic in the soil and consequently, leading to the contamination of the water tables affects the eco system too, which ultimately leads to the eutrophication. In order to avoid such a situation, remediation techniques need to be applied to reduce the threat that arsenic poisoning poses for the population. Awareness also needs to be created among the people who are continuing to pollute the environment. 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