Alok Chandra Samal

Human exposure to arsenic through foodstuffs cultivated using arsenic contaminated groundwater in areas of West Bengal, India

The widespread incidence of chronic arsenicosis in the Bengal Delta has led to intensive research on arsenic (As) enrichment in groundwater as well as accumulation in foodstuffs, as there are potential health risks associated with exposure to As from both sources. This study deals with human As exposure through the drinking of groundwater, consumption of locally grown foodstuffs (e.g., crops and vegetables) and cooked food in Nadia district, West Bengal. Groundwater and foodstuffs were collected and analyzed with FI-HG-AAS to estimate the total As content. Urine samples collected from human subjects were analyzed to assess the As exposure. Two major crops, boro and aman rice, showed a considerable amount of As, with mean values of 194 and 156 μg kg(-1), respectively. Significant levels of As were also found in other common crops and vegetables cultivated in this area (for example, the mean As in Arum and radish was 780 and 674 μg kg(-1), respectively). Total intake of As from foodstuffs by adults (560 μg day(-1)) and children (393 μg day(-1)) in the area was found to be at alarming levels. Arsenic exposure was demonstrated by the presence of As in urine (ranging between 154 and 276 μg L(-1)), with overall As retention of 50-60 %. The results of this study further indicate the potential risk of As exposure to local inhabitants through the food chain which is associated with continuous consumption of As-contaminated foodstuffs. Therefore, more action needs to be taken to control the contamination pathways (such as the water-soil-crop system) to protect humans from continuous ingestion of As through foodstuffs.

Metallic components of traffic-induced urban aerosol, their spatial variation, and source apportionment

This study proposes a practical method to estimate elemental composition and distribution in order to attribute source and quantify impacts of aerosol particles at an urban region in Kolkata, India. Twelve-hour total particulates were collected in winter (2005–2006) and analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence technique to determine multi-elemental composition, especially trace metals. The aerosols consist of various elements including K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, and Pb which exhibit significant concentration at various sites (p < 0.05). The concentration of different metallic elements were found in the order of Zn  >  Pb  >  Ni  >  Cu  >  Cr  >  Co. Statistical multivariate analysis and correlation matrix analyses were performed for factor identification and consequent source apportionment. Contour profiles demonstrate spatial variation of elemental compositions indicating possible source contribution along with meteorological influences. Spatial differences were clearly most significant for Zn, Ni, Pb, and Cu reflecting the importance of anthropogenic inputs, primarily from automobile sources.

In vitro assessment on the impact of soil arsenic in the eight rice varieties of West Bengal, India.

Rice is an efficient accumulator of arsenic and thus irrigation with arsenic-contaminated groundwater and soil may induce human health hazard via water-soil-plant-human pathway. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted on three high yielding, one hybrid and four local rice varieties to investigate the uptake, distribution and phytotoxicity of arsenic in rice plant. 5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg kg(-1) dry weights arsenic dosing was applied in pot soil and the results were compared with the control samples. All the studied high yielding and hybrid varieties (Ratna, IET 4094, IR 50 and Gangakaveri) were found to be higher accumulator of arsenic as compared to all but one local rice variety, Kerala Sundari. In these five rice varieties accumulation of arsenic in grain exceeded the WHO permissible limit (1.0 mg kg(-1)) at 20 mg kg(-1) arsenic dosing. Irrespective of variety, arsenic accumulation in different parts of rice plant was found to increase with increasing arsenic doses, but not at the same rate. A consistent negative correlation was established between soil arsenic and chlorophyll contents while carbohydrate accumulation depicted consistent positive correlation with increasing arsenic toxicity in rice plant.

Biotransformation and bioaccumulation of arsenic by Brevibacillus brevis isolated from arsenic contaminated region of West Bengal.

Microorganisms influence the fate of metals in environment. Increasing anthropogenic and geogenic activity had increase the risk of arsenic pollution and this has forced the future research area to involve microbes-metal toxicity to achieve bioremediation. The present study deals with the role of arsenite transforming bacteria and incorporates them into remediation design. Sample was collected from Haringhata in Nadia district which is a known arsenic contaminated zone. Out of six isolated bacteria one bacterium revealed as arsenic tolerant bacteria which shows molecular similarity with Brevibacillus brevis from 16s rRNA studies. It can tolerate upto 1000 mg/L of arsenite and 500 mg/L of arsenate. Both the arsenic species has toxic effects on its protein concentration. The strains can tolerate upto a certain limit after that their growth ceased. This strain can accumulate and also transform arsenite to arsenate. The transformation capacity of strain was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively. The strain can transform 90% of arsenite to arsenate. But the transformation capacity only reveals as detoxification mechanism and has no relation with their respiration. Morphological biochemical and molecular identification was done. As arsenate is absorbed into iron oxyhydroxides and get immobilize thus a remediation mechanism can be designed with this strain.

Assessment of Potential Health Risk through Arsenic Flow in Food Chain—A Study in Gangetic Delta of West Bengal

West Bengal is one of the severely arsenic affected states in India. Over 500 million people are at risk through arsenic poisoning in the Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain (6 Chakraborti et al., 2004; 16 Pal et al., 2007). Nine out of eighteen districts of the state of West Bengal are reported to have groundwater arsenic contamination (5 Chakraborty et al., 2002). Among the affected districts, North 24-Parganas deserves special mention. More than 95% of the people here depend on the groundwater for drinking, cooking and other domestic uses and major amount of groundwater is also used for irrigation of crops specially during non-monsoon period. Thus there is a chance of land contamination and accumulation of arsenic through agricultural products grown in contaminated soil and water. The exposure to arsenic may involve a number of pathways through ecosystem. This indicates that water-soil-crop-food transfer as well as cooking and direct intake of drinking water may be the major pathway of arsenic entry in man and higher animal system. A number of people are thus suffering from arsenic induced skin lesions and other symptoms.

WITHDRAWN: Deposition and uptake of metals in urban canopy: Atmospheric arsenic sequestration.

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An Overview on Indian Patents on Biotechnology.

BACKGROUND The application of biotechnology is a potential tool for mitigating the present and future fooding and clothing demands in developing countries like India. The commercialization of biotechnological products might benefiting the poor`s in developing countries are unlikely to be developed. Biotechnology has the potential to provide a wide range of products and the existing production skills in the industrial, pharmaceuticals and the agricultural sector. METHODS Ownership of the intellectual property rights is the key factors in determining the success of any technological invention, which was introduced in the market. It provides the means for technological progress to continue of the industry of the country. The new plans, animal varieties, new methods of treatments, new crops producing food articles as such are the inventions of biotechnology. RESULT Biotechnology is the result of the application of human intelligence and knowledge to the biological processes. Most of the tools of biotechnology have been developed, by companies, governments, research in- stitutes and universities in developed nations. These human intellectual efforts deserve protection. India is a developing country with advance biotechnology based segments of pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is not likely to have a significant impact on incentives for innovation creation in the biotechnology sectors. In the recent years, the world has seen the biotechnology sector as one of greatest investment area through the Patent Law and will giving huge profit in future. CONCLUSION The Research and Development in the field of biotechnology should be encouraged for explor- ing new tools and improve the biological systems for interest of the common people. Priority should be given to generation, evaluation, protection and effective commercial utilization of tangible products of intellectual property in agriculture and pharmaceuticals. To support the future growth and development in the area of bio- technology and exchange of knowledge should be proper evaluate and secure through patent system.

A Greenhouse Pot Experiment to Study Arsenic Accumulation in Rice Varieties Selected from Gangetic Bengal, India

It is predicted that around 100 million people living in the Ganga-Meghna- Brahmaputra plain are at the risk of serious arsenic toxicity through exposure of contaminated groundwater (Chakraborti D et al., Groundwater arsenic contamination in Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plain, its health effects and an approach for mitigation. In: UNESCO UCI groundwater conference proceedings. http://www.groundwater-conference.uci.edu/proceedings.html#chapter1, 2008). Groundwater arsenic contamination in the Gangetic Bengal has been termed as the largest mass poisoning in the history of human kind (Smith et al., Bull WHO 78(9):1093–1103, 2000). Arsenic pollution has spread in fourteen out of total nineteen districts of Gangetic Bengal (Chakraborti et al., Mol Nutr Food Res 53(5):542–551, 2009). Application of arsenic-contaminated groundwater for irrigation in Gangetic Bengal has shown to influence accumulation of arsenic in rice, the major staple food in West Bengal (Meharg, Trends Plant Sci 9:415–417, 2004, 2009; Signes-Pastor et al., J Agric Food Chem 56(20):9469–9474, 2008; Bhattacharya et al., Paddy Water Environ 8(1):63–70, 2010a; Samal et al., J Environ Sci Health Part A: Environ Sci Eng 46:1259–1265, 2011; Banerjee et al., Sci Rep 3, Article number: 2195, 2013; Santra et al., Procedia Environ Sci 18:2–13, 2013). Rice is an efficient accumulator of arsenic than any other cereal crops (Su et al. Plant Soil 328:27–34, 2010) and consumption of rice has been termed as an important source of inorganic arsenic intake to human body (Meharg et al., Environ Sci Technol 43(5):1612–1617, 2009).