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Arsenic: Compounds
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Arsenic (As) is a naturally occurring element widely distributed in the earth's crust. In the environment, Arsenic is combined with oxygen, chlorine, and sulfur to form inorganic Arsenic compounds. Arsenic in animals and plants combines with carbon and hydrogen to form organic Arsenic compounds.
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Arsenic and many compounds of arsenic are especially potent poisons. It disrupts the digestive system which can lead to death from shock. Both, arsenic and its compound inhibit the enzyme lipothiamide pyrophosphate, an important enzyme of metabolism.
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Arsenic can not only create compounds with oxygen, chlorine, sulfur, carbon and hydrogen, but ... with lead, mercury, gold and iron. It mainly remains as oxide, hydrate, sulfide, arsenate, and arsenite. Gold, silver, copper, zinc, iron, and other metals exist with arsenic in these chemical compounds.
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Arsenic on repeated or prolonged skin contact may cause bronzing of the skin, edema, dermatitis, and lesions. Repeated or prolonged inhalation of dust may cause damage to the nasal septum. Chronic exposure from inhalation or ingestion may cause hair and weight loss, a garlic odor to the breath and perspiration, excessive salivation and perspiration, central nervous system damage, hepatitis, gastrointestinal disturbances, cardiovascular damage, and kidney and liver damage. Arsenic compounds are known human carcinogens and may be teratogenic based on effects in laboratory animals.
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Arsenic compounds began to be used in agriculture as ingredients in insecticides, rat poisons, herbicides and wood preservatives, as well as pigments in paints, wallpaper and ceramics. Although the agricultural uses would be recognized later as not particularly eco-friendly - especially when in the form of the then-popular lead arsenate sprays used against larvae of the gypsy moth and the boll weevil - they were among the most efficacious of their time. Even before these applications were widely employed... the most altruistic of all the uses for arsenic had been launched.
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Arsenic can be found in seawater (2-4 ppb), and in rivers (0.5-2 ppb). Half of the arsenic present is bound to particles. Freshwater and seas algae contain about 1-250 ppm of arsenic, freshwater mycrophytes contain 2-1450 ppm, marine molluscs contain 1-70 ppm, marine crustaceans 0.5-69 ppm, and fishes 0.2-320 ppm (all values are based on dry mass). In some marine organisms, such as algae and shrimp, arsenic can be found in organic compounds.
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