Manama fluoride and arsenic hot snots

摘要

Geochemists and statisticians have joined forces to map the presence of naturally occurring fluoride and arsenic on a global scale. Though far from perfect, the new probability maps, published in ES&T (3662-3668; 3669-3675), have the potential to provide red flags on contaminated drinking-water sources, particularly in developing countries where on-the-ground data are lacking. In high enough quantities, arsenic and fluoride can have detrimental effects on humans. Chronic arsenic exposure over decades triggers skin diseases, liver damage, and skin and lung cancer.