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Uranium in drinking water: a public health threat

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Abstract

Uranium (U) has no known essential biological functions. Furthermore, it is well known for its toxicity, radioactivity, and carcinogenic potency. Impacts on human health due to U exposure have been studied extensively by many researchers. Chronic exposure to low-level U isotopes (radionuclides) may be interlinked with cancer etiology and at high exposure levels, also kidney disease. Other important issues covered U and fertilizers, and also U in soils or human tissues as an easily measurable indicator element in a pathophysiological examination. Furthermore, phosphate fertilization is known as the important source of contamination with U in the agricultural land, mainly due to contamination in the phosphate rock applied for fertilizer manufacture. Therefore, long-term usage of U-bearing fertilizers can substantially increase the concentration of U in fertilized soils. It should also be noted that U is an active redox catalyst for the reaction between DNA and H2O2. This review is aimed to highlight a series on various hydro-geochemical aspects in different water sources and focused on the comparison of different U contents in the drinking water sources and presentation of data in relation to health issues.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM), Toften 24, 8610, Mo i Rana, Norway

    Geir Bjørklund

  2. Semey Medical University, Semey, Kazakhstan

    Yuliya Semenova & Lyudmila Pivina

  3. CONEM Kazakhstan Environmental Health and Safety Research Group, Semey Medical University, Semey, Kazakhstan

    Yuliya Semenova & Lyudmila Pivina

  4. Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

    Maryam Dadar

  5. Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Md. Mostafizur Rahman

  6. CONEM Bangladesh Trace and Radioactive Elements Research Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Md. Mostafizur Rahman

  7. Research Department, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Brumunddal, Norway

    Jan Aaseth

  8. Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Salvatore Chirumbolo

  9. CONEM Scientific Secretary, Verona, Italy

    Salvatore Chirumbolo

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  1. Geir Bjørklund
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Bjørklund, G., Semenova, Y., Pivina, L. et al. Uranium in drinking water: a public health threat. Arch Toxicol 94, 1551–1560 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00204-020-02676-8

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