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Fluorescent humic substances and blackfoot disease in Taiwan
Author(s) -
Lu FungJou
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
applied organometallic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1099-0739
pISSN - 0268-2605
DOI - 10.1002/aoc.590040304
Subject(s) - chemistry , arsenic , fluorescence , environmental chemistry , isolation (microbiology) , organic chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , physics , quantum mechanics
Blackfoot disease is endemic in Chia Yi and Tainan Counties in south‐western Taiwan. Arsenic present in the drinking water taken from wells has been blamed for causing this disease. The discovery in 1975 of fluorescent compounds in these well waters led to the isolation of these substances, to their identification as humic substances containing a large number of elements (among them arsenic), and to the development of an animal model for blackfoot disease. Mice receiving aqueous solutions of these fluorescent substances at a daily dose of 5 mg per 20 g body mass for at least 22 days developed blackfoot and blacktail disease. Work with these fluorescent substances, their chemical properties, and their biological actions is reviewed.