Solving the Mystery of Arsenic’s Impact on Human Health

Photo source: UN/Eskinder Debebe

Chronic exposure to arsenic can cause serious health issues for both children and adults – including several types of cancer. Hundreds of millions of people around the world are exposed to high levels of this naturally occurring chemical in their drinking water, including many North Carolinians. While we know that arsenic exposure causes health problems, we do not yet understand exactly how it affects the body and leads to the development of cancer and other health outcomes.

Dr. Rebecca Fry, UNC associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering (ESE) and lead researcher for the Metal Induced Disease Flexible Interdisciplinary Research Group (FIRG) in the UNC Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility, is working with CEHS and ESE colleague and Department of Nutrition Professor Dr. Miroslav Styblo to solve this mystery. They have received a CEHS pilot grant to study the molecular mechanism by which arsenic exposure causes bladder cancer in a population in Mexico where arsenic levels in drinking water are very high.

“We have been fortunate to have access to samples from Dr. Styblo’s work in Mexico, where we can study exfoliated bladder cells from subjects,” Fry explains. “Unlike many other carcinogens, arsenic doesn’t cause mutations in DNA, so we’re looking at other cellular processes that may be influencing cell biology.”

Fry is conducting another study in Mexico to investigate links between pregnant mothers’ exposure to arsenic and health effects in their children. “One of the intriguing things about arsenic is that prenatal and early life exposures are associated with health effects later in life. Again, the mechanisms aren’t yet known, but the results of both studies will teach us more about children’s environmental health and later life health issues.”

These studies are particularly relevant to central North Carolina, where high arsenic levels have been measured in many private wells. Fry has participated in activities co-sponsored by the CEHS Community Outreach and Engagement Core (COEC), discussing arsenic exposure in the state and the links to children’s and adult health at a local Carolina Science Café, a free public event co-sponsored by the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center and at a meeting of the NC Lead and Healthy Homes Task Force, a collaboration of local and state health and housing agencies working to improve children’s health.