Effect of Arsenic on Health: Evidence from Indian Districts

It is well established that consuming groundwater contaminated with arsenic can lead to diseases of the heart, blood vessels, peripheral nervous systems and skin diseases such as pigmentation change. In this article, I focus on two health outcomes—skin diseases and still births—using district-level data from India, a country with widespread arsenic contamination. Arsenic may come into human contact via direct and/or indirect channel. I intend to examine these two channels of arsenic transmission. To analyse the two-fold objectives of this study, I have used repeated cross-section data from the two health rounds of National Sample Survey Organization (60th and 71st round survey). I find a positive and statistically significant relation between skin diseases and drinking water from arsenic contaminated tube well. Similar results are found for still birth in arsenic affected areas, even after controlling for state- and district-level factors. Using odds ratio, I also find positive effect of rice consumption on skin manifestations, robust to state-fixed effects, but not district-fixed effects. Individuals are more adversely affected in terms of skin lesions and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Drinking arsenic contaminated water is a more dominant pathway than consumption of food containing arsenic, particularly rice and wheat. JEL Codes: I10, I12, Q25, Q53, Q54