As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveils a proposal to lower levels of arsenic in the nation’s water supplies, a Wayne State University School of Medicine doctor is calling on physicians to test their patients for elevated levels of arsenic in their system, a condition that can contribute to many of the leading causes of death, including cancer and heart disease.

Dr. Michael Harbut, an assistant professor of internal medicine and expert on environmental health risks including arsenic and asbestos contamination, published a peer-reviewed letter in the July/August issue of the Archives of Environmental Health arguing that the presence of arsenic in urine should be considered an independent risk factor for the development of many diseases, much like cholesterol is considered a risk factor for heart disease.

"The data is compelling. Lives will be saved if urinary arsenic is monitored and lowered in the same way that cholesterol and blood pressure are monitored and lowered, but at a far reduced cost and much less interventionally," Dr. Harbut said. "We will reduce sickness and death from heart attack, stroke, lung disease and cancer quickly and dramatically if we lower the national body burden of arsenic."

Arsenic has been associated with several types of cancers, respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, neurological disorders, gastrointestinal disturbances, diabetes mellitus and heart disease.

The EPA recommended in the Federal Register that the current arsenic standard be revised to allow only 5 parts per billion in drinking water. The existing regulation, enacted in 1943, allows 10 times more arsenic in water.  The new standard would apply to all 54,000 community water systems, which serve about 254 million people.

Arsenic occurs naturally in virtually every aspect of the environment and can be released by volcanic eruptions, erosion and forest fires. Ninety percent of industrial arsenic is used as a wood preservative, but is also found in paints, dyes, metals, drugs, soaps and semi-conductors. Paper production, cement manufacturing, mining and burning fossil fuels also release arsenic into the environment.