Arsénico en suelos de la cuenca del río Tambo, Arequipa, Perú: Evaluación de riesgo para la salud humana

It has repeatedly been claimed that the Tambo River basin, Arequipa Region, Peru, is contaminated by arsenic from mining activities. However, to date no publications have substantiated this claim. Two notable factors underpinned this study. First, people can unintentionally consume arsenic-contaminated soil. Second, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recently updated the criteria for assessing human health risks related to arsenic exposure. Considering these two points, the primary objective of this study was to measure arsenic concentrations in soils in the Tambo River basin and subsequently estimate the potential risk to human health due to the involuntary ingestion of arsenic-contaminated soil. In total, seventy soil samples were taken along a transect in the basin. This research found that the total arsenic concentration in the basin’s soils is 47 ± 17 mg/kg (mean and standard deviation). Additionally, accidental soil ingestion was found to pose a health risk to children aged 0-3 years due to arsenic exposure. The second objective of the study was to estimate the risk of arsenic exposure arising from the consumption of rice, a commonly cultivated crop in the Tambo River basin. Since rice grains were unavailable at the time of soil sampling in the basin, it was decided to utilize existing literature values. Specifically, two previous studies conducted in Peru were re-examined for this investigation. Drawing on these studies, we evaluated the risk associated with the consumption of rice. In contrast to the studies’ original conclusions, we found that there is in fact a human health risk associated with the consumption of rice grown in the area under study.