Scenario of Chronic Hydroarsenicism in Arid Zones and Toxic Risk in Goats |Biomedgrid

There is really a strong environmental problem with hydroarsenicism in different countries of the world, mainly in Asia and Latin America; there are reports of chronic poisoning from exposure to high concentrations of arsenic in Bangladesh, India, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Hungary, Serbia, United States, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico [1]. In 1993 the World Health Organization (WHO) set 10μg L-1 as the guideline value for arsenic in drinking water [2]. However, the maximum allowable limits for animal consumption are not yet well established, and therefore different reference values have been considered, including 25 and 200μg L-1 [3,4]. In many parts of the world, both the problem of arsenic in groundwater and goat farming coincide in arid zones, together with agriculture and cattle breeding activities. These activities require large volumes of water for their performance and generate an increase in water stress, through the over-exploitation of aquifers as occurs in the North of Mexico, specifically in the region of the Comarca Lagunera (Coahuila-Durango), where hydroarsenicism has transcended 58% of its aquifers, and continues to increase.