The effect of the Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level on arsenic exposure in the USA from 2003 to 2014: an analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

ABSTRACT:

Background

The current US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in public water systems (10 µg/L) took effect in 2006. Arsenic is not federally regulated in private wells. The impact of the 2006 MCL on arsenic exposure in the US, as confirmed through biomarkers, is presently unknown. We evaluated national trends in water arsenic exposure in the US, hypothesizing that urinary arsenic levels would decrease over time among participants using public water systems but not among those using well water. We further estimated the expected number of avoided lung, bladder, and skin cancer cases.

Methods

We evaluated 14,127 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2014 with urinary dimethylarsinate (DM

SUBMITTER: Nigra AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5729579 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature