ARSENIC IN THE HAIR OF POPULATIONS IN THE NORTH OF CHILE

Arsenic in the North of Chile, has been during several decades of conc ern for the regional community and the national authorities. This regi on has been mentioned in publications of health organizations as an ex ample of an area with high arsenic content in its water resources as w ell as in its soil. Large expenditures have been made to install dejec tion plants in order to lower the arsenic level of drinking water to t he recommended international limit. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of h ighland villages drink untreated water. On the other hand, the main ec onomic activity of this region is mining. The extraction methods as we ll as the treatment processes cause environmental changes, particularl y in the air. Example of these alterations is the smoke from the smelt ing house furnaces of Chuquicamata. In order to find out the level of arsenic in the environ ment, our research group decided to determine t he concentration of this element in hair samples of regional inhabitan ts. The content of arsenic in the hair is considered a good indicator of inorganic arsenic in non exposed populations. Thus, measuring the I mpact of this-element in the inhabitants, ii is possible to learn the degree of its presence in the environment. This work presents the arse nic level in hair samples of sin and seven year old children from ten localities of the Second Region of Chile. The concentrations were dete rmined by neutron-activation analysis in the Nuclear Center at La Rein a, Santiago de Chile.