Study Seeks Link Between Arsenic And IQ

By Kevin Westerling

Researchers from Columbia University and the University of New Hampshire are expanding a study to determine what effect arsenic in drinking water has on IQ, according to an article in The Morning Sentinel of Waterville, ME.

The test subjects for the study are third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students from school districts in central Maine, where geological surveys have shown high levels of arsenic in the groundwater supply.

The study first commenced three years ago with a sample of 200 elementary school children whose water supply is derived from private, family wells. The IQs of those with arsenic levels that exceed federal guidelines were compared to those that were within the federal limit, indicating a small, but obvious, intelligence differential between the groups.

The researchers are now looking to increase their sample size to 500 students in order to draw more definitive conclusions. Families that participate in the study receive free tests of their well water — a step that, in conjunction with test results, could call attention to the potential problem posed by arsenic in drinking water.

Final results of the Maine study will be compared to those of a similar, ongoing study in Bangladesh, which the same group of researchers began in 2000.

Click here to read the Sentinal article.