Villagers Burning of Cow Dung Cakes in Eastern India and Bangladesh Inhale Arsenic

In the article published in the JEM, the authors explain that cow dung, from cows fed with arsenic contaminated rice straw, is dried in the sun and used as fuel in chulhas. When the cow dung cakes are burnt arsenic is released, which is then inhaled.

In most villages of India and Bangladesh, dried cow dung is used as fuel in traditional chulhas or cookstoves which are not well ventilated.This is responsible for many respiratory health problems. But in eastern India and Bangladesh this cow dung cake is additionally found to be causing arsenic poisoning in unsuspecting villagers. .People are simply exposed to 1859.2 ng arsenic per day through direct inhalation, of which 464.8 ng could be absorbed in respiratory tract.

During the last century people living in China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh were encouraged to use well water rather than surface water to reduce number of casualties from water borne bacterial diseases. But it was not known that the ground water of Ganga–Meghna–Brahmaputra river basin in India and Bangladesh is contaminated with arsenic leaching from rock.

It was soon discovered that the well water is contaminated by arsenic leaching from rock.Sickness through drinking the well water and eating rice and other crops, irrigated with contaminated water has been widely reported. But this new route of arsenic poisioning through burning arsenic contaminated cow dung cakes was discovered by Dr. Dipankar Chakraborti and colleagues from Jadavpur University, India.

In the article published in the Journal of Environmental Monitoring, Dr. Chakraborti explains that in this region cow dung, from cows fed with arsenic contaminated rice straw, is dried in the sun and used as fuel in domestic ovens. He found that when the cow dung cakes are burnt arsenic is released into the air, which is then inhaled.

The exposure is magnified because the ovens and kitchens are not ventilated, said Chakraborti. Woman and children in the region are the worst affected because they spend an average of seven hours a day next to ovens. Inhalation of arsenic leads to respiratory problems such as persistent coughs and reduced lung capacity, said Chakraborti.

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