A Preliminary Study of Geographic Influence on Arsenic Concentrations in Human Hair

Abstract

Past mining activities in the county of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, has exposed the local environment to raised levels of As. Previous research has shown an increased concentration of As in crops grown in such areas and the subsequent take-up of As through the food chain may lead to an increased body burden in man. In an attempt to evaluate this, a pilot study was carried out using Particle Induced X-ray Emission to compare the hair As concentration of a group of Cornish residents to that of a control group consisting of residents in the counties of Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The null hypothesis being that there is no significant difference between the hair As concentrations of the two groups.

Each group comprised thirty six age and sex matched subjects. The mean hair As concentration for the Cornish group was 2.51 μg g-1, which is significantly greater than that of 0.7 μg g-1 found in the control group (p = 0.004). The World Health Organisation suggests a hair As value greater than 1 μg g-1 as evidence of increased exposure to As and 5 μg g-1 is quoted by the Canadian Government as evidence of significant ingestion of As. Twenty one Cornish subjects registered a value at or above 1 μg As g-1 compared to nine in the control group (p = 0.0003). Five subjects in the Cornish group had values that exceed 5 μg As g-1, compared to only two in the control group (p = 0.23). We use the results of this study as evidence to support our continued work in this area in order to evaluate possible health implications.