How does arsenic contaminated drinking water affect the body?
High concentrations of arsenic ingested into the body can produce lethal effects. Arsenic has long been known as a poison and has been the tool of many vengeful conspirators including, it appears, even for our earliest settlers at Jamestown, Virginia, where Spain tried to ensure the failure of the original English colony through repeated use of arsenic via an internal spy (“Secrets of the Dead II – Death at Jamestown”, PBS). Initial effects of arsenicosis, the disease caused from excessive exposure to arsenic, include stomach pain, vomiting, skin lesions, pigmentation, difficulty in swallowing, excessive thirst, low blood pressure, convulsions and gastrointestinal problems. Long-term effects include cancer of the bladder, skin, kidney, liver, prostate, lung and nasal passages. It currently is estimated that one in 100 people exposed to arsenic levels above 50 ppb (the current United States standard) will die from cancer.In areas where the arsenic levels are even higher, such as India a
