Smarter Living: Chemical Index
Arsenic
U.S. industries release thousands of pounds of arsenic, a known carcinogen, into the environment each year, most of it from the manufacture and application of arsenic as a wood preservative.
Ingesting arsenic-contaminated water or food can increase the risk of skin, bladder, kidney and lung cancer. Breathing high levels of arsenic can cause nausea, vomiting, decreased blood cell production, abnormal heart rhythm, damage to blood vessels, severe skin irritation and lung cancer.
Arsenic can cross the placenta and there is some evidence linking pre-birth exposures with lower IQ scores.
Exposure
Arsenic is a naturally-occurring mineral as well as a carcinogenic by-product of copper smelting, mining and coal-burning. Arsenic is used extensively as a wood preservative, and can contaminate many wooden structures such as porches, home decks and playground equipment.
The most conservative estimates show that at least 34 million people in the United States are drinking water contaminated with unsafe levels of arsenic. Only 25 states report arsenic information to the EPA, so the actual number is likely much higher. Arsenic enters drinking water supplies either from natural deposits in the earth or from industrial pollution. U.S. industries release thousands of pounds of arsenic into the environment each year, most of it from the manufacture and application of arsenic as a wood preservative. Arsenic can also wash off of outdoor furniture, decks and playground equipment.
Stay Safe
Find out if your drinking water is contaminated with arsenic. Use this guide to determine whether you need a home water filter.
If arsenic is a problem, use this guide to select the filter best suited to remove arsenic from your tap water. Don’t rely on bottled water – there are no assurances it is any safer than your tap water.
Take Action
Stronger standards now exist for arsenic in drinking water, and these tougher standards will trigger cleanup efforts of contaminated systems. But we need better regulation of the industrial processes that produce arsenic and of the regulations that allow its use in commercial products. This will require reforming the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Urge your legislators to protect our health from toxic chemicals in our everyday products.
Learn More
NRDC Protecting People From Unsafe Chemicals
Toxicological Profile for Arsenic, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, August 2007
Arsenic and Old Laws, NRDC, February 2000.
last revised 12/27/2011
