Title
The relationship between water quality and health in the London
area.
Author
Beresford SA
Address
Source
Int J Epidemiol, 1981 Jun, 10:2, 103-15
Abstract
In a retrospective study of the relationship between reuse of
water and hazards to health, the
mortality experience from different causes, principally cancer,
was examined for 29
boroughs and districts in the London area for the period 1968
to 1974. Information
concerning the source of water supply to each borough was obtained
both for the current
situation, and historically back to 1926. Socioeconomic characteristics
of the boroughs were
extracted from 1971 census data. Differential mortality experiences
for each sex were
analysed using the standardised mortality ratio for ages 25 to
74. Most of the causes of
death examined were associated with one or more of the socioeconomic
characteristics of
the boroughs. These socioeconomic characteristics accounted for
the statistical associations
between water reuse and mortality for each cause studied, except
male stomach cancer,
where a weak residual association remained. This association
disappeared when variation in
the size of boroughs was taken into account.
Title
Arsenic dose in patients with cutaneous carcinomata and hepatic
hemangio-endothelioma
after environmental and occupational exposure.
Author
Zaldívar R; Prunés L; Ghai GL
Address
Source
Arch Toxicol, 1981 Apr, 47:2, 145-54
Abstract
A total of 16 male cases with malignant tumours associated with
arsenic-polluted water
were observed in Tarapacá and Antofagasta Provinces, northern
Chile. Fifteen of them had
skin carcinomata and the remaining one a hemangio-endothelioma
of liver. The skin cancer
cases had latent periods ranging from 12-45 years. Three patients
were studied in detail. The
first one (skin cancer) had a latent period of 20 years with
a weighted mean dose of 1.2
mg/day (total dose for latent period 8.4 g). The second one (skin
cancer) had a latent period
of 23 years with a weighted mean dose of 1.0 mg/day (total dose
for latent period 8.3 g).
The third case (liver tumour) exhibited a latent period of 14
years with a weighted mean of
0.6 mg/day (total dose for latent period 3.1 g). Fifteen of the
16 cancer patients were
labourers. For normal subjects of different ages and both sexes
(n = 290) and ingesting
arsenic-polluted water (0.60 ppm), the relationship between mean
age and mean arsenic
dose is expressed by a weighted least square polynomial regression,
of second degree: E(y)-
beta 0 + beta 1t + beta 2 t2 where y is mean arsenic dose (mg/person/day)
and t is mean age
(years). For the general male population and for male labourers,
the respective equations are
presented.
Title
Epidemiological studies on cancer and organic compounds in U.S.
drinking waters.
Author
Williamson SJ
Address
Source
Sci Total Environ, 1981 Apr, 18:, 187-203
Abstract
Two national surveys of U. S. drinking waters have been conducted
to determine the
presence and concentration levels of organic compounds, particularly
trihalomethanes. Most
drinking water supplies from surface water sources have been
shown to contain numerous
organic compounds at very low levels. Chloroform is present in
virtually all drinking water
supplies that are treated with chlorine as a disinfectant. The
health effects of organic
compounds have been investigated by animal and epidemiological
studies. Numerous
epidemiological studies have been conducted on various geographic
sections of the United
States. Fourteen epidemiological studies that were hypothesis
generating studies were
conducted to determine if there is a positive association between
drinking water and
increased cancer mortality. These studies may indicate which
organ(s) might potentially be
the affected organ(s). Further epidemiological studies that tested
various hypotheses were
conducted. A summary of these studies is presented, which indicates
that there is potentially
an increased risk of bladder, colon, and rectum cancer from drinking
waters containing
trihalomethanes.
Title
Malignant neoplasms among residents of a blackfoot disease-endemic
area in Taiwan:
high-arsenic artesian well water and cancers.
Author
Chen CJ; Chuang YC; Lin TM; Wu HY
Address
Source
Cancer Res, 1985 Nov, 45:11 Pt 2, 5895-9
Abstract
The objective of this study is to elucidate the association between
high-arsenic artesian well
water and cancers in endemic area of blackfoot disease, a unique
peripheral vascular disease
related to continuous arsenic exposure. As compared with the
general population in Taiwan,
both the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and cumulative mortality
rate were significantly
high in blackfoot disease-endemic areas for cancers of bladder,
kidney, skin, lung, liver, and
colon. The SMRs for cancers of bladder, kidney, skin, lung, liver,
and colon were 1100,
772, 534, 320, 170, and 160, respectively, for males, and 2009,
1119, 652, 413, 229, and
168, respectively, for females. A dose-response relationship
was observed between SMRs
of the cancers and blackfoot disease prevalence rate of the villages
and townships in the
endemic areas. SMRs of cancers were greater in villages where
only artesian wells were
used as the drinking water source than in villages using both
artesian and shallow wells, and
even greater than in villages using shallow wells only.
Title
Bladder cancer mortality associated with arsenic in drinking
water in Argentina [see
comments] [published erratum appears in Epidemiology 1997 May;8(3):334]
Author
Hopenhayn Rich C; Biggs ML; Fuchs A; Bergoglio R; Tello EE; Nicolli
H; Smith AH
Address
School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley,
CA, USA.
Source
Epidemiology, 1996 Mar, 7:2, 117-24
Abstract
Inorganic arsenic (In-As) is known to be a human carcinogen,
causing lung cancer by
inhalation and skin cancer by ingestion. Ecologic studies in
Taiwan have found a
dose-response relation between ingestion of In-As from drinking
water and bladder cancer,
but questions have been raised concerning the validity and generalizability
of the findings.
Several areas of Argentina have had high exposures to arsenic
from naturally contaminated
drinking water, particularly the eastern region of the province
of Córdoba. In this study, we
investigated bladder cancer mortality for the years 1986-1991
in Córdoba's 26 counties,
using rates for all of Argentina as the standard for comparison.
Bladder cancer standardized
mortality ratios (SMRs) were consistently higher in counties
with documented arsenic
exposure. We grouped counties into low-, medium-, and high-exposure
categories; the
corresponding SMRs [with 95% confidence intervals (CI)] were
0.80 (95% CI =
0.66-0.96), 1.42 (95% CI = 1.14-1.74), and 2.14 (95% CI = 1.78-2.53)
for men, and 1.21
(95% CI = 0.85-1.64), 1.58 (95% CI = 1.01-2.35), and 1.82 (95%
CI = 1.19-2.64) for
women. The clear trends found in a population with different
genetic composition and a
high-protein diet support the findings in Taiwan.
Title
Trihalomethanes in drinking water and cancer: risk assessment
and integrated evaluation of
available data, in animals and humans.
Author
Attias L; Contu A; Loizzo A; Massiglia M; Valente P; Zapponi
GA
Address
Istituto Superiore di SanitÄa, Laboratori di Igiene Ambientale
e Farmacologia, Rome, Italy.
Source
Sci Total Environ, 1995 Oct, 171:1-3, 61-8
Abstract
In our study, we attempted to jointly consider THM concentration
data collected from
drinking waters and carcinogenic risk assessment derived from
mathematical models
commonly used in this field (multi-stage models for laboratory
animal experimentation
data, and 'unit risk' derived from the relative risk in the case
of epidemiological data). In
order to estimate the risks related to joint exposure to different
THMs, in this study the risk
additivity hypothesis is taken into account. Based on animal
data for the various tumors,
carcinogenic risk estimates for different THM combinations vary
from 2.7 x 10(-7) to 4.6 x
10(-6) per micrograms/l in relation to different carcinogenic
substances published in the
literature or specifically calculated in this study. The carcinogenic
risk parameters derived
from experimental studies and from epidemiological data were
substantially consistent. Our
study uses also as an example some data on concentration levels
of THMs for drinking
water supplies in Sardinia. The area mean THM concentration values
for each supply varied,
for ground waters, from 8.1 to 13.6 micrograms/l and, for surface
waters, from 52.8 to 168
micrograms/l. For the 1976-1989 period, bladder cancer standardized
mortality rates in the
water distribution system areas where the THMs were measured
indicate values similar, but
generally lower, than the national ones, except in the province
of Cagliari where the values
were not significantly different. The risk estimates derived
from animal studies are of the
same order of magnitude as the epidemiological data in literature.
Title
Chlorination of drinking water and cancer incidence in Norway.
Author
Flaten TP
Address
Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Science, University
of Trondheim, Norway.
Source
Int J Epidemiol, 1992 Feb, 21:1, 6-15
Abstract
To examine whether chlorination of drinking water was associated
with cancer of the
digestive or other organs, an ecological epidemiological study
using nationwide incidence
data from the Cancer Registry of Norway was carried out. On two
geographical levels
(counties and municipalities), both for men and women, chlorination
of drinking water was
associated with an increased incidence of cancer of the colon
and rectum. After adjusting for
potential confounding variables, also measured on a geographical
basis, the associations
were still significant at the county level (adjusted for population
density, income, education,
fat and fibre intake etc.), but not at the municipality level.
The observed associations are
weak, chlorination being associated with a 20-40% increase in
colorectal cancer rates. Due to
inherent methodological limitations in ecological studies like
the present one, causal
interpretations should be made with great care. Thus, although
the results give some support
to the hypothesis that drinking water chlorination is associated
with colorectal cancer, they
do not provide strong evidence of a causal relationship.
Title
Chlorination of drinking water and cancer incidence.
Author
Morales Suarez Varela MM; Llopis Gonzalez A; Tejerizo Perez ML;
Ferrer Caraco E
Address
Department of Preventive Medicine, Valencia University, Spain.
Source
J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol, 1994, 13:1, 39-41
Abstract
Epidemiological studies report associations between cancer mortality
and type of drinking
water source. Different studies appeared to lend some support
to the hypothesis that surface
waters contain higher levels of human carcinogens than groundwater
sources. The possible
contaminants that might play such a role are the halogenated
organic compounds produced
by the chemical reaction between organic materials in water and
chlorine used for
disinfection. Chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic
compounds in the water to
form haloforms. Valencia Province of Spain relies almost exclusively
on groundwater for
its public drinking water, but the city and surrounding urban
areas rely on superficial water.
The chlorination used in the superficial water includes several
phases: prechlorination,
coagulation, filtration, and, finally, postchlorination, which
shows the possible formation of
organohalogenated compounds. To find an association between stomach
and bladder cancer
mortality with the type of water source, we studied 261 municipalities
of Valencia Province.
We calculated sex-specific standardized mortality ratios for
deaths occurring between the
1985 to 1989 (census statistics), and we carried out a relative-risk
calculation associated with
the differences between superficial and groundwater supplies.
Title
Pilot study on the relationship between male stomach and liver
cancer death and
mutagenicity of drinking water in the Huangpu River area.
Author
Tao XG; Zhu HG; Yu SZ; Zhao QY; Wang JR; Wu GD; You XF; Li C;
Zhi WL; Bao JP;
et al
Address
School of Public Health, Shanghai Medical University, P.R. China.
Source
Public Health Rev, 1991, 19:1-4, 219-27
Abstract
A quasi-historical cohort study method was used to collect the
data of male stomach and
liver cancer death from 1984 to 1988 in male residents (>
or = 30 years old) of three
tap-water-drinking communities at the upper, middle and lower
reaches of the Huangpu
River. Total person-years observed are 184,645. The result shows
that the world standard
population standardized cut-off mortalities (> or = 30 years
old) of male stomach and liver
cancer increase gradually from the upper to lower reaches. The
mortalities from the upper to
the lower reaches are 62.7, 86.2 and 146.0/100,000 person-years
for male stomach cancer
and 56.9, 67.7 and 81.3/100,000 person-years for male liver cancer,
respectively. This trend
is consistent with the change of the rate of positive Ames Test
results of drinking water
from the upper to lower reaches (0, 70, 100%). It suggests that
a causal correlation may
exist between the two. The distribution of other possible risk
factors in the three
communities is also described.
Title
Chlorination of drinking water and cancer mortality in Taiwan.
Author
Yang CY; Chiu HF; Cheng MF; Tsai SS
Address
School of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical College, Taiwan.
Source
Environ Res, 1998 Jul, 78:1, 1-6
Abstract
Chlorination has been the major strategy for disinfection of
drinking water in Taiwan. An
ecologic epidemiological study design was used to examine whether
chlorination of
drinking water was associated with cancer risks. A "chlorinating
municipality" (CHM) was
defined as one in which more than 90% of the municipality population
was served by the
chlorinated water while an "nonchlorinating municipality"
(NCHM) was one in which less
than 5% of the municipality population was served by chlorinated
water. Age-adjusted
mortality rates for cancer during 1982-1991 among the 14 CHMs
were compared to rates
among the 14 matched NCHMs with similar urbanization level and
sociodemographic
characteristics. The results of this study suggest a positive
association between consumption
of chlorinating drinking water and cancer of the rectum, lung,
bladder, and kidney. Although
these findings must be interpreted with caution because of limitations
in the ecological study
design, their public health significance should not be disregarded
because chlorination of
water is so widely practiced in Taiwan.
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