Arsenic in soil raises cancer concerns

Exposure to arsenic in soil and mine waste may have contributed to a slight increase in past cancer risk in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia, according to new research. (Credit: Image of "girl holding dirt" via Shutterstock)

U. MELBOURNE (AUS) ? A new study based in Australia finds slightly higher rates of some cancers in areas with higher arsenic levels.

Dora Pearce, a researcher at the University of Melbourne?formerly of the University of Ballarat, where the study was based?explored how soil arsenic levels and cancer rates varied across central Victoria.

By using 20 years of data from the Victorian Cancer Registry and a measure of soil arsenic derived from geochemical data provided by the University of Ballarat and GeoScience Victoria, Pearce concludes that ongoing recorded monitoring of environmental sources of arsenic is needed.

The findings are reported in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.

?Arsenic is naturally occurring around gold mineralization and is even used as an indicator in gold exploration, so it can be concentrated in soil and mine waste dumps that are still scattered across our landscape,? says Pearce.

In the Goldfields region, many residential communities have grown up around historical gold mining areas.

?Our previous research detected small traces of arsenic in toenail clippings from children living in this region, showing that exposure to arsenic in soil could be an ongoing problem and that we should not be too complacent.

?We hope that by raising community awareness of this issue, childhood exposures to arsenic in soil, and future cancer risk, will be reduced in the Goldfields region of Victoria,? says Pearce.

More news from the University of Melbourne: http://newsroom.melbourne.edu/

Source: http://www.futurity.org/health-medicine/arsenic-in-soil-raises-cancer-concerns/

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