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Chronic arsenic toxicity is a serious environmental health problem across the world. Bangladesh and India (particularly the state of West Bengal) are the worst affected countries with such problem. The present study reports plasma-aminothiols (p-aminothiols) like L-cysteine (L-Cys), cysteinyl glycine (Cys-gly), total homocysteine (t-Hcy) and glutathione (GSH) status, and the inverse relationship of t-Hcy with B-vitamins (B1, B6, B9 and B12) in arsenic exposed population of West Bengal, India. Reverse phase HPLC was used to measure p-aminothiols and serum B-vitamins in different arsenic exposed population. Arsenic in drinking water and urine were measured by flow injection analysis system - Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FIAS-AAS) and Transversely heated graphite atomizer (THGA-AAS) techniques, respectively. Water arsenic exposure was >50 µg/L in 50% population, of which majority (33.58%) belong to the range of >50-500 µg/L and more than 8% were even >1000 µg/L. Urine arsenic (µg/g creatinine) levels increased with arsenic exposure. The variability among p-aminothiols was also observed with higher exposure to arsenic in drinking water. A significant difference between exposed and control population was noticed for plasma L-Cys. The difference of B-vitamins between the population exposed to 50 µg/L arsenic in drinking water was also found to be significant. B9 and B12 deficiency with increased consumption of arsenic in water corroborates the anemic conditions commonly observed among arsenic exposed population. The aminothiol status indicated oxidative stress in exposed population. This study demonstrated progressive increase in plasma t-Hcy as well as inverse relationships of serum B-vitamins with increased water arsenic concentration.

This study focused work-exposure to particulate matter ≤ 10 µm (PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and biological monitoring of major VOCs (BTEX) to observe the significant effects of traffic related pollutants on respiratory and hematological systems of workers engaged in two occupational settings, petrol pumps and traffic areas of Kolkata metropolitan city, India. PM10 was assessed by personal sampling and particle size distribution by 8-stage Cascade Impactor. VOCs were analysed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and five urinary metabolites, trans trans- mercapturic acid (tt-MA), S-phenyl mercapturic acid (SPMA), hippuric acid (HA), mandelic acid (MA) and methyl hippuric acid (MHA) of VOCs, benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX) by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Pulmonary functions test (PFT) was measured Spirometrically. ∂-aminoleavulinic acid (ALA) and porphobilinogen (PBG) in lymphocytes were measured spectrophometrically following column chromatographic separation. High exposure to PM10, having 50% of particles, ≤ 5.0 µm in both the occupational settings. Exposure to toluene was highest in petrol pumps whereas benzene was highest (104.6 ± 99.0 μg m-3) for traffic police personnel. Workplace Benzene is found many fold higher than the National ambient standard. Air-benzene is correlated significantly with pre- and post-shift tt-MA (p < 0.001) and SPMA (p < 0.001) of exposed workers. Blood cell counts indicated benzene induced hematotoxicity. ALA and PBG accumulation in lymphocytes indicated alteration in heme-metabolism, especially among traffic police. Significant reduction of force exploratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) of fuel fillers are observed with increased tt-MA and SPMA. Study revealed PFT impairments 11.11% (6.66% restrictive and 2.22% obstructive and combined restrictive and obstructive type, each) among petrol pumps and 8.3% obstructive type among traffic police.