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Research by Professor Andrew Meharg at the University of Aberdeen was the first to show that rice constituted the major source of dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic, a class 1, non-threshold carcinogen, meaning that there is no dose that is risk-free. This research directly led to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) undertaking a major review of arsenic in foods. The EU, USA and WHO lack standards for arsenic in food, but all three are now actively seeking to set standards. Subsequent to the Aberdeen studies, the WHO withdrew its standard for arsenic Provisional Tolerable Daily Intake, considering it too high. Also, as a direct result of this work, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued warnings that children under 4 should avoid rice milks because of their inorganic arsenic content.
Therefore claimed impacts are: affected health and welfare; enhanced awareness of health risks, altered dietary guidelines and changes to public and international policies and guidelines.
UCL research findings about the source, transport and fate of arsenic in sediments exploited for water supply in the Bengal Basin have underpinned the development and implementation of policy by the Bangladesh government, international donors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and led to improvements in public health security across southern Bangladesh. By demonstrating that arsenic pollution in Bangladesh is not caused by irrigation pumping, the research countered popular demands and government intentions to curb irrigation, thereby supporting the country's continued food-grain self-sufficiency. Subsequent UCL explanations of the geochemical and hydraulic processes controlling groundwater arsenic have underpinned further revision of the government's strategies for monitoring groundwater and mitigating the crisis; the resultant reduction in arsenic exposure among approximately 10 million people has significantly enhanced public health security.
A Queen's University team led by Bhaskar Sen Gupta installed the world's first chemical free water treatment plant in the arsenic belt of India to benefit rural people living on per capita income of less than 1 US$ a day. With nine facilities in India, Cambodia and Malaysia, more than 13,000 people are receiving their water supply from Subterranean Arsenic Removal (SAR) plants (www.insituarsenic.org). Many villagers who started using clean water from the community plants in 2008 have shown significant signs of recovery from chronic arsenicosis.