The Taiwan Crisis: a showcase of the global arsenic problem (Arsenic in the environment)

236 Pages·2010·6.52 MB·English

by  Jiin-Shuh Jean

THE TAIWAN CRISIS: A SHOWCASE OF THE GLOBAL ARSENIC PROBLEM
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Cover photo
The cover photo shows the Wushanting mud volcano in southwestern Taiwan, which is one
of the 64 known active on-shore mud volcanoes of Taiwan. Several of them are located at
the east of Chianan plain and their erupted muds and fluids contain high concentrations of
arsenic, which could have been transported by predominantly fluvial processes to the coastal
Chianan plain where it contributed to the high arsenic concentrations in the groundwater of
the deep aquifers, which are a major factor that has caused the endemic blackfoot disease in
SW Taiwan before 1990, especially being prevalent during the 1950s.
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Arsenic in the Environment
Series Editors
Jochen Bundschuh
Institute of Applied Research, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences,
Karlsruhe, Germany
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
Prosun Bhattacharya
KTH-International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group, Department of Land
and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH),
Stockholm, Sweden
ISSN: 1876-6218
Volume 3
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The Taiwan Crisis: a showcase
of the global arsenic problem
Jiin-Shuh Jean
Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan City 701, Taiwan
Jochen Bundschuh
Institute of Applied Research, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences,
Karlsruhe, Germany; Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
Chien-Jen Chen
Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei City, Taiwan
How-Ran Guo
Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Medical College,
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan City, Taiwan
Chen-Wuing Liu
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering,
National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan
Tsair-Fuh Lin
Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University,
Tainan City, Taiwan
Yen-Hua Chen
Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan City,
Taiwan
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The digital elevation model PIA3395 (World: Figure 1.1) (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov) is
courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.
The digital elevation model of Taiwan used in Figures 3.1, 3.9, 6.1, 6.2, 6.4–6.6, 6.8, 6.9, 6.11,
6.13, 6.14, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.5 was prepared from 40 × 40 m digital terrain model data of Taiwan
and is courtesy of Chia-Hung Jen from National Kaohsiung Normal University, Taiwan.
CRC Press/Balkema is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London, UK
Typeset by Vikatan Publishing Solutions (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Poland by Poligrafia Janusz Nowak, Poznán
All rights reserved. No part of this publication or the information contained herein may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, elec-
tronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written prior permis-
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Although all care is taken to ensure integrity and the quality of this publication and the
information herein, no responsibility is assumed by the publishers nor the author for any
damage to the property or persons as a result of operation or use of this publication and/or
the information contained herein.
Published by: CRC Press/Balkema
P.O. Box 447, 2300 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
e-mail: [email protected]
www.crcpress.com – www.taylorandfrancis.co.uk – www.balkema.nl
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Taiwan crisis : a showcase of the global arsenic problem / editors, Jiin-Shuh Jean … [et al.].
p. cm.—(Arsenic in the environment ; v. 3)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-415-58510-1 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Groundwater--Arsenic content--Taiwan. 2. Arsenic--Physiological effect--Taiwan.
3. Environmental toxicology--Taiwan. I. Jean, Jiin-Shuh. II. Title.
TD427.A77T35 2010
363.738’4--dc22 2010000331
ISBN: 978-0-415-58510-1 (Hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-84806-7 (eBook)
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About the book series
Although arsenic has been known as a ‘silent toxin’ since ancient times, and the contamination
of drinking water resources by geogenic arsenic was described in different locations around
the world long ago — e.g., in Argentina in 1917— it was only two decades ago that it received
overwhelming worldwide public attention. As a consequence of the biggest arsenic calam-
ity in the world, which was detected more than twenty years back in West Bengal, India
and other parts of southeast Asia. As a consequence, there has been an exponential rise in
scientific interest that has triggered high quality research. Since then, arsenic contamination
(predominantly of geogenic origin) of drinking water resources, soils, plants and air, the
propagation of arsenic in the food chain, the chronic affects of arsenic ingestion by humans,
and their toxicological and related public health consequences, have been described in many
parts of the world, and every year, even more new countries or regions are discovered to have
arsenic problems
Arsenic is found as a drinking water contaminant, in many regions all around the world, in
both developing as well as industrialized countries. However, addressing the problem requires
different approaches which take into account, the differential economic and social conditions
in both country groups. It has been estimated that 200 million people worldwide are at risk
from drinking water containing high concentrations of As, a number which is expected to
further increase due to the recent lowering of the limits of arsenic concentration in drinking
water to 10 μg L–1, which has already been adopted by many countries, and some authorities
are even considering decreasing this value further.
The book series “Arsenic in the Environment” is an inter- and multidisciplinary source of
information, making an effort to link the occurrence of geogenic arsenic in different environ-
ments and the potential contamination of ground- and surface water, soil and air and their
effect on the human society. The series fulfills the growing interest in the worldwide arsenic
issue, which is being accompanied by stronger regulations on the permissible Maximum
Contaminant Levels (MCL) of arsenic in drinking water and food, which are being adopted
not only by the industrialized countries, but increasingly by developing countries.
The book series covers all fields of research concerning arsenic in the environment and
aims to present an integrated approach from its occurrence in rocks and mobilization into
the ground- and surface water, soil and air, its transport therein, and the pathways of arsenic
introduction into the food chain including uptake by humans. Human arsenic exposure,
arsenic bioavailability, metabolism and toxicology are treated together with related public
health effects and risk assessments in order to better manage the contaminated land and
aquatic environments and to reduce human arsenic exposure. Arsenic removal technologies
and other methodologies to mitigate the arsenic problem are addressed not only from the
technological perspective, but also from an economic and social point of view. Only such
inter- and multidisciplinary approaches, will allow case-specific selection of optimal mitiga-
tion measures for each specific arsenic problem and provide the local population with arsenic
safe drinking water, food, and air.
We have an ambition to make this book series an international, multi- and interdiscipli-
nary source of knowledge and a platform for arsenic research oriented to the direct solution
of problems with considerable social impact and relevance rather than simply focusing on
cutting edge and breakthrough research in physical, chemical, toxicological and medical sci-
ences. The book series will also form a consolidated source of information on the worldwide
VII
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VIII About the book series
occurrences of arsenic, which otherwise is dispersed and often hard to access. It will also
have role in increasing the awareness and knowledge of the arsenic problem among admin-
istrators, policy makers and company executives and improving international and bilateral
cooperation on arsenic contamination and its effects.
Consequently, we see this book series as a comprehensive information base, which includes
authored or edited books from world-leading scientists on their specific field of arsenic
research, but also contains volumes with selected papers from international or regional con-
gresses or other scientific events. Further, the abstracts presented during the homonymous
biannual international congress series, which we organize in different parts of the world is
being compiled in a stand-alone book series “Arsenic in the Environment—Proceedings” that
would give short and crisp state of the art periodic updates of the contemporary trends in
arsenic-related research. Both the series will be open for any person, scientific association,
society or scientific network, for the submission of new book projects. Supported by a strong
multi-disciplinary editorial board, book proposals and manuscripts are peer reviewed and
evaluated.
Jochen Bundschuh
Prosun Bhattacharya
(Series Editors)
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Editorial board
K.M. Ahmed Department of Geology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000,
Bangladesh
E-mail [email protected]
M. Alauddin Department of Chemistry, Wagner College, Staten Island,
NY 10301, USA
E-mail [email protected]
Süer Anaç Department of Irrigation and Agricultural Structures,
Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
E-mail [email protected]
Michael Berg Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science
and Technology, 8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland
E-mail [email protected]
Marek Bryjak Department Polymer & Carbon Materials, Wroclaw University
of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland
E-mail [email protected]
José A. Centeno Department of Environmental and Infectious Disease Sciences,
US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC
20306-6000, USA
E-mail: [email protected]
D. Chandrasekharam Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute
of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
E-mail [email protected]
Laurent Charlet Earth and Planetary Science Department (LGIT-OSUG),
University of Grenoble-I, BP 53 38041 Grenoble, France
E-mail [email protected]
Chien-Jen Chen Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica,
Taipei City 115, Taiwan
E-mail [email protected]
Virginia Ciminelli Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering,
Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais,
35/206- Belo Horizonte- MG 30160-030, Brazil
E-mail [email protected]
Luis H. Cumbal Centro de Investigaciones Cientificas, Escuela Politecnica del
Ejercito (ESPE), Sangolqui, Ecuador
E-mail [email protected]
Luz Maria Del Razo Sección de Toxicología, CINVESTAV, 07360 Mexico City,
Mexico
E-mail [email protected]
Vicenta Devesa Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de Alimentos (IATA),
46100 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain
E-mail [email protected]
Britta Planer-Friedrich Fakultät für Biologie, Chemie und Geowissenschaften,
Universität Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
E-mail [email protected]
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