Arsenic in water, food and cigarettes: A cancer risk to Pakistani population

Inorganic arsenic (iAs) in drinking water and food items has been associated with lung and bladder cancers in several countries including Pakistan. In present study water, food items were collected from Arsenic (As) endemic areas (southern part of Pakistan) during 2008-2012, to evaluate its impact on the health of local population. Exposure of As was checked by analyzing biological samples (blood and scalp hairs) of male lung and bladder cancer patients (smokers and non-smokers). For comparative purpose the healthy subjects of same age group and residential area as exposed referents (EXR) and from non-contaminated area (Hyderabad, Pakistan) as non-exposed referents (NER) were also selected. As concentration in drinking water, food and biological samples were analyzed using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The validation of technique was done by the analysis of certified reference material (CRM) of blood and hair samples. The As contents in drinking water and food were found 3-15-folds elevated than permissible limits, where as in biological samples; EXR have 2-3-folds higher than NER and cancer patients have 5-9-folds higher than NER. The significant difference was observed in smokers (P < 0.01). The outcomes of the study revealed that As levels were elevated in blood and scalp hair samples of both types of cancer subjects as compared to referents (P < 0.001). It was observed that the lung cancer patients (LCP) have 20-35% higher levels of As in both biological samples as compared to bladder cancer patients (BCP) due to smoking habit. This study has proved the correlation among As contaminated water, food and cigarette smoking between different types of cancer risks.