包括美国在内,许多国家的地下水中含有高水平的天然砷。一项新研究发现,如果饮用水中砷含量达到不安全的水平,就会伤害肺部,相当于吸烟几十年的危害。砷是一种著名的毒素,在岩石、水和土壤中都存在。在某些地区,工业生产活动会使砷的水平升高。为了研究砷对肺部的影响,研究人员审查了饮用水砷含量高于美国环保局准许含量两倍时所发生的情况,这么高水平的砷含量存在于孟加拉国的饮用水中。然而,孟加拉国并不是唯一饮用水砷含量过高的国度。在阿根廷、智利、中国、印度、墨西哥和美 Groundwater in many countries, including the United States, contains high levels of natural arsenic. A new study found that if the level of arsenic in drinking water reaches unsafe levels, it can damage the lungs, which is equivalent to decades of harm from smoking. Arsenic is a well-known toxin that exists in rocks, water and soil. In some areas, industrial activities raise the level of arsenic. To study the effects of arsenic on the lungs, researchers examined what happened when the arsenic content of drinking water was more than twice the EPA’s allowance, which is high in arsenic present in Bangladesh’s drinking water. However, Bangladesh is not the only country where the arsenic content of drinking water is too high. In Argentina, Chile, China, India, Mexico and the United States