Arsenic on the hands of children: Wang et al. respond.In our study of arsenic on children's hands (Kwon et al. 2004), we measured arsenic in water samples in which participating children washed both hands after playing on selected playgrounds. The hand-washing water was filtered, and the soluble arsenic concentration in the filtrate filtrate /fil·trate/ (fil´trat) a liquid or gas that has passed through a filter. fil·trate v. To put or go through a filter. n. was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICP-MS (Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) is a type of mass spectrometry that is highly sensitive and capable of the determination of a range of metals and several non-metals at concentrations below one part in 1012. . In response to Kissers comment that we did not measure insoluble arsenic, we analyzed the arsenic levels in the insoluble residue collected on the filter and summarized the unpublished data here. Results from the analysis of 64 samples from the CCA (1) (Common Cryptographic Architecture) Cryptography software from IBM for MVS and DOS applications. (2) (Compatible Communications A playgrounds and another 63 samples from the non-CCA playgrounds are available upon request. The total amount of arsenic in the insoluble residue collected in the hand-washing water of 64 children from the eight CCA playgrounds was 418 [+ or -] 601 ng (mean [+ or -] SD), compared to 172 + 278 ng in the hand-washing water of 63 children from the eight non-CCA playgrounds. The total arsenic collected in the hand-washing water (insoluble arsenic on the filter plus water-soluble arsenic in the filtrate) was 934 [+ or -] 940 ng for the CCA playground and 265 [+ or -] 311 ng for the non-CCA playgrounds. The maximum amount of total arsenic collected from children's hands was 4,743 ng (4.7 [micro]g). This is compared with the 3.9 [micro]g that we reported previously (Kwon et al. 2004). To provide a perspective of relative contribution of this amount of arsenic to the overall exposure to arsenic, in our article (Kwon et al. 2004) we included references for the average daily dietary ingestion ingestion /in·ges·tion/ (-chun) the taking of food, drugs, etc., into the body by mouth. in·ges·tion n. 1. The act of taking food and drink into the body by the mouth. 2. of total arsenic: 38 [micro]g (15 [micro]g for children 1-4 years of age) for Canada (Dabeka et al. 1993), 62 [micro]g for the United States (Gartrell et al. [1985]), 89 [micro]g for the United Kingdom (Food Additives and Contaminants Committee 1984), 55 [micro]g for New Zealand (Dick et al. 1978), and 160-280 [micro]g for Japan (Tsuda et al. 1995). A range of arsenic species that have different toxicities may be present in food (Leet al. 2004). Estimated daily dietary intake of inorganic arsenic was 8.3-14 [micro]g in the United States (Yost et al. 1998), 4.8-12.7 [micro]g in Canada (Yost et al. 1998), and 15-211 [micro]g in Taiwan (Schoof et al. 1998). We did not monitor children's hand-to-mouth activity because this behavior has already been documented in the literature (Reed et al. 1999; Tulve et al. 2002). Our intent was to provide direct measurements of the amount of arsenic on children's hands. We recognize the importance of these other studies, as we pointed out in our "Conclusions" (Kwon et al. 2004): The results--along with other information, such as the frequency and habit of hand-to-mouth activity, efficiency of transfer of arsenic from hands to mouth, and repeated contact of hands with CCA-treated wood surface after hand-to-mouth activity--are useful for assessing children's exposure to arsenic. We have measured arsenic in sequential hand-washings and found that most arsenic was present in the first hand-washing (unpublished data). Results of arsenic in hand-washings of three children before and after playing on a CCA playground are available upon request. The amount of arsenic in the second washing was < 10% of that in the first washing, suggesting that the arsenic on children's hands is readily washed off with water. Therefore, we conclude that children should "wash their hands after playing to reduce their potential exposure to arsenic" (Kwon et al. 2004). Biomonitoring of arsenic species in urine samples from children who play on CCA-treated structures and children who do not could be useful if the ingestion of arsenic from dietary sources would not be a major confounder. The authors declare they have no competing financial interests. REFERENCES Dabeka RW, McKenzie AD, Lacroix GM, Cleroux C, Bowe S, Graham RA, et al. 1993. 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A group of products or services in a specific market, especially when considered in terms of its fluctuating cost in determining a consumer price index: and duplicate portion estimation of dietary intakes of cadmium, mercury, arsenic, copper, manganese, and zinc by Japanese adults. J AOAC let 78:1363-1368. Yost LJ, Schoof RA, Aucoin R. 1998. Intake of inorganic arsenic in the North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. diet. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 4:137-152. Zhongwen Wang, Elena Kwon, Hongquan Zlmng, Gian S. Jhangri, Xiufen Lu, Xing-Fang Li, and X. Chris Le Department of Public Health Sciences University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada E-mail: xc.le@ualberta.ca Nelson Fok Environmental Health Capital Health Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Stephan Gabos Health Surveillance Branch Alberta Health and Wellness Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
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