Arsenic Toxicity - Exposure

Exposure

The oxides of arsenic are the most common threat since arsenite and arsenate salts are the most toxic. These forms are components of geologic formations and are extracted into the ground water. Thus although arsenic poisoning can be related to human activities such as mining and ore smelting, the most serious problems are natural, resulting from water wells drilled into aquifers that have high concentrations of arsenic. "Inorganic arsenic" (arsenate and arsenite salts) are more harmful than organic arsenic exposure.

Organic arsenic is 500 times less harmful than inorganic arsenic, and is a minor problem compared to the groundwater situation which affects many millions of people. Seafood is a common source of the less toxic organic arsenic in the form of arsenobetaine. The arsenic reported in 2012 in fruit juice and rice by Consumer Reports was primarily inorganic arsenic.