WHO says arsenic threatening rural Chinese drinking water

Asian Economic News, Nov 24, 2004

BEIJING, Nov. 18 Kyodo

U.N. officials will meet in China next week to draw attention to the threat of arsenic in Chinese drinking water and urge health agencies throughout Asia to pay more attention to the potentially fatal hazard, a World Health Organization spokesman said Thursday.

Some counties in northern China's Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region show particularly high levels of naturally occurring arsenic in well water, Beijing-based spokesman Roy Wadia said.

But the WHO has seen no statistical reports in these areas or seven other regions with less severe occurrences. Arsenic was first reported in Chinese water in 1986.

Arsenic, which people also pick up by breathing the smoke of tainted coal, can reduce children's IQ levels, cause skin lesions and lead to various kinds of cancer. Coal heat for cooking and drying food also has caused contamination in the southwestern province of Guizhou, according to a WHO statement.

Guo Xiaojuan, who took part in a 1996 survey in Inner Mongolia, said villagers there needed more attention.

''At the time of departure from the villages, I often saw tears in the eyes of villagers,'' Guo was quoted as saying in a WHO document. ''It was a sign of hope, as well as of appreciation. The hope was for the overcoming of arsenic poisoning, and hence, for survival.''

The WHO believes about 50 million people are at risk in Central and South Asia. The problem usually afflicts rural areas, where deep well drilling hits arsenic-rich aquifers.

From Tuesday through Friday next week, the WHO, the U.N. Children's Fund and two other agencies will bring together Asian water experts at Shanxi provincial capital Taiyuan to strengthen national and local government surveillance and monitoring efforts. They also hope the conference raises awareness among potential donors.