Tecnologico de Monterrey Reports Findings in Managed Care [Hydrochemical controls on arsenic contamination and its health risks in the Comarca Lagunera region (Mexico): Implications of the scientific evidence for public health policy]: Managed Care

2022 OCT 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Monterrey, Mexico, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Nearly half of the world’s urban population depends on aquifers for drinking water. These are increasingly vulnerable to pollution and overexploitation.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Tecnologico de Monterrey, “Besides anthropogenic sources, pollutants such as arsenic (As) are also geogenic and their concentrations have, in some cases, been increased by groundwater pumping. Almost 40 % of Mexico’s population relies on groundwater for drinking water purposes; much the aquifers in semi-arid and arid central and northern Mexico is contaminated by As. These are agricultural regions where irrigation water is primarily provided from intenstive pumping of the aquifers leading to long-standing declines in the water table. The focus of this study is the main aquifer within the Comarca Lagunera region in Northern Mexico. Although the scientific evidence demonstrates that health effects are associated with long-term exposure to elevated As concentrations, this knowledge has not yielded effective groundwater development and public health policy. A multidisciplinary approach - including the evaluation of geochemistry, human health risk and development and public health policy - was used to provide a current account of these links. The dissolved As concentrations measured exceeded the corresponding World Health Organization guideline for drinking water in 90 % of the sampled wells; for the population drinking this water, the estimated probability of presenting non-carcinogenic health effects was >90 %, and the lifetime risk of developing cancer ranged from 0.5 to 61 cases in 10,000 children and 0.2 to 33 cases in 10,000 adults. The results suggest that insufficient policy responses are due to a complex and dysfunctional groundwater governance framework that compromises the economic, social and environmental sustainability of this region.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These findings may valuable to other regions with similar settings that need to design and enact better informed, science-based policies that recognize the value of a more sustainable use of groundwater resources and a healthier population.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Hydrochemical controls on arsenic contamination and its health risks in the Comarca Lagunera region (Mexico): Implications of the scientific evidence for public health policy. Science of The Total Environment, 2022:159347. Science of The Total Environment can be contacted at: Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 Nx Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Science of The Total Environment - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/science-of-the-total-environment/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ismael Aguilar-Barajas, Departamento de Economia, Escuela de Ciencias Sociales y Gobierno, Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Campus Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico. Additional authors for this research include Jurgen Mahlknecht, Paulina Farias, Peter S. K. Knappett, Juan Antonio Torres-Martinez, Jaime Hoogesteger, Rene H. Lara, Ricardo A. Ramirez-Ambrosio and Abrahan Mora.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159347. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal Science of The Total Environment can be contacted at: Elsevier, Radarweg 29, 1043 Nx Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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