February 13, 2003

Arsenic expertise tapped by Princess of Thailand

With drinking water arsenic a critical health concern in many regions of the world, including New Hampshire, the pioneering studies of epidemiologist Margaret Karagas have come to the attention of not only the regional but the global health communities. The model developed by Karagas through a New Hampshire population study is distinguished by being the first to correlate internal doses of arsenic to confirmed cases of cancer in the same individuals.

This year, the World Health Association and the Princess of Thailand invited Karagas to Thailand to help develop collaborative studies between scientists in Southeast Asia and the US to investigate the effects of arsenic exposure during pregnancy on newborns, infants and children. Karagas also joined a group of scientists convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyons, France, to author a monograph on drinking water contaminants. The ARC, part of the World Health Organization, publishes authoritative independent assessments by international experts of the carcinogenic risks posed to humans by a variety of agents.

At home this year, Karagas served on another expert panel to produce the Report on Carcinogens for the US Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The federally mandated report is issued annually under the aegis of the National Toxicology Program.

Nancy Serrell
Center for Environmental Health Sciences at Dartmouth