CCA News & Information Articles

State OKs arsenic plan 08-09-2006 HILO » The state Department of Health has approved a plan to deal with higher-than-normal levels of arsenic in the soil at a planned hotel site near Hilo. The plan will allow Keaau Hospitality Group to soon start building a 60-unit, two-story, wooden hotel at the 4.4-acre site next to a shopping center in Keaau, five miles south of Hilo, said company vice-president Bob Saunders. The arsenic is believed to be a remnant from the period of 1920 to 1940, when it was used as an herbicide in sugar fields Power Plant Spews Soot On Town 08-09-2006 The coal soot came from smokestacks at the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant in Shippingport last month. The Department of Environmental Protection tested samples of the black oily substance and found high levels of arsenic and lead that could pose a danger if ingested. Risk for skin lesions increases with low-dose exposure to arsenic in drinking water and Arsenic in drinking water - Update Health Canada 06-23-2006 Millions of persons around the world are exposed to low doses of arsenic through drinking water. However, up until now estimates of the health effects associated with low-dose exposure had been based on research from high-dose levels. In a study of more than 11,000 people in Bangladesh, research conducted by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health clearly provides evidence that a population exposed to well water with arsenic concentrations of as little as 50 ug/l is at risk for skin lesions. The report also concludes that older, male, and thinner participants were more likely to be affected by arsenic exposure. Dartmouth study finds that arsenic inhibits DNA repair 05-26-2006 HANOVER, NH – Dartmouth researchers, working with scientists at the University of Arizona and at the Department of Natural Resources in Sonora, Mexico, have published a study on the impact of arsenic exposure on DNA damage. They have determined that arsenic in drinking water is associated with a decrease in the body's ability to repair its DNA. "This work supports the idea that arsenic in drinking water can promote the carcinogenic effects of other chemicals," says Angeline Andrew, the lead author and a research assistant professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. "This is evidence that it's more important than ever to keep arsenic out of drinking water."