Introduction to this web site

There is often a gap between scientists who study toxic chemicals in the environment and the resource managers, risk assessors, public health officials and medical professionals who make day-to-day decisions that draw on that scientific knowledge. In May 2002, researchers from Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Research Program and Center for Environmental Health collaborated with members of the New Hampshire Consortium on Arsenic to host a cross-disciplinary scientific conference on arsenic aimed at narrowing that gap. This site includes the scientific agenda, speaker's abstracts and other details on that conference.

Exposure to arsenic in drinking water is a significant health problem for people around the world. Arsenic is at the top of the list of chemicals posing a threat to human health developed by United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arsenic also heads the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of hazardous chemicals at toxic waste sites. Arsenic exposure is of particular concern in New England, where soils and waters in many regions naturally contain levels of arsenic that are substantially higher than those found in other areas of the United States.

In the fall of 2001, members of the New Hampshire Consortium on Arsenic agreed that collaborating on a cross-disciplinary scientific conference would advance the mission of the Consortium: to exchange information, facilitate coordination of public outreach and to foster future research collaborations on this regional issue. The Consortium, which was formed in May of 2000, is made up of researchers from Dartmouth, New Hampshire's departments of Environmental Services and Health and Human Services, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region I.

The goal of the two-and-a-half-day conference was to provide an opportunity for synthesis. Researchers discussed work on arsenic's natural occurrence; patterns of anthropogenic use and disposal; mechanisms of action as a toxin; effects on human health; environmental impact; movement through ecosystems; and regulation strategies.

The keynote speaker for the conference was Dr. Kenneth Cantor, Senior Scientist in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program at the National Cancer Institute and one of the world's leading experts on human health aspects of arsenic in drinking water.

Nearly 200 people from across the United States attended.