e n v i r o n m e n t a l t o x i c o l o g y a n d p h a r m a c o l o g y 3 3 ( 2 0 1 2 ) 372–376 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com jo ur nal homep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/etap Chronic arsenicosis in goats with special reference to its exposure, excretion and deposition in an arsenic contaminated zone Tanmoy Rana, Asit Kumar Bera * , Debasis Bhattacharya, Subhashree Das, Diganta Pan, Subrata Kumar Das Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Eastern Regional Station, 37, Belgachia Road, Kolkata 700037, India a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 1 October 2011 Received in revised form 24 December 2011 Accepted 27 December 2011 Available online 4 January 2012 Keywords: Arsenic Goat Environmental and biological samples BCF, BTF a b s t r a c t Thirty goats were selected randomly from a village of Nadia district, West Bengal according to the previous reports of human being suffering from chronic arsenicosis. Environmental samples viz. drinking water, rice plants and grass used for goat and biological samples viz. blood, urine, faeces, hair and meat were collected to evaluate the arsenic status. It was found that arsenic concentration in both environmental and biological samples was significantly (p < 0.01) higher rather than respective samples on control zone. Bio-concentration factor (BCF) and bio-transfer factor (BTF) are indicated to evaluate the subclinical toxicity in goat as they do not exhibit clinical manifestation like human beings. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Arsenic (As) is an environmental chemical element of high concern for human health (IARC, 2004). Arsenic contamina- tion has assumed an alarming proportion in some 9 districts of West Bengal, India, so much so that it has been earmarked as “the biggest arsenic calamity in the world” (WHO, 2001). Both animals and human beings are being exposed to arsenic through contaminated water, food, and air (Guha Mazumder, 2008; Rana et al., 2008). In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted an As standard of 10 g/l in drinking water (USEPA, 1992). Epidemiological evidence has shown that long-term chronic arsenic exposure is associated ∗ Corresponding author at: National Research Centre on Yak, Dirang, West Kameng District, 790101, Arunachal Pradesh, India. Tel.: +91 3780 242220/242–220/218/287/388/389; fax: +91 3780 242273. E-mail address: asitmed2000@yahoo.com (A.K. Bera). with increased risks of skin, bladder, lung, and liver cancers (Guha Mazumder, 2008). In view of rapid spread of various diseases arising out of arsenic contamination (e.g. arsenical dermatosis, melanosis, keratosis, edema, gangrin, etc.) in dif- ferent areas of West Bengal, India and also in adjoining areas of Bangladesh (Guha Mazumder, 2008), some effort have been made to provide arsenic-free drinking water (purified through chemical plants) to people living in the arsenic-contaminated zones, but this has proved to be grossly inadequate so far. A large number of goats maintained by arsenic affected peoples are provided with arsenic contaminated drinking water, grasses and rice plants. The ingested high amount of arsenic may be retained in the blood, urine, faeces, hair and tissues of goat that is consumed by human beings directly or indirectly 1382-6689/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.etap.2011.12.026