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Arsenic

Atomic Number: 33

Atomic Weight: 74.92159

Element Classification: Semimetallic

Appearance: steel-gray, brittle semimetal

Uses: The main use of arsenic is for strengthening alloys of copper and lead . Arsenic is common in semiconductor electronic devices, such as car batteries, and is also used in the production of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides.

Properties: Arsenic has a valence of -3, 0, +3, or +5. The elemental solid primarily occurs in two modifications, though other allotropes are reported. Gray arsenic is the usual stable form, with a melting point of 817°C. Arsenic and its compounds are poisonous.

Arsenic and Old Lace:  a play by Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. Set in Brooklyn, the play is a comedy about a young man questioning his engagement and his two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide.

Pollution: Widespread arsenic contamination of groundwater has led to a massive epidemic of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and neighboring countries. It is estimated that approximately 57 million people in the Bengal basin are drinking groundwater with arsenic concentrations elevated above the World Health Organization's standard of 10 parts per billion (ppb).

In the United States, arsenic is most commonly found in the ground waters of the southwest. Parts of New England, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas are also known to have significant concentrations of arsenic in ground water. Increased levels of skin cancer have been associated with arsenic exposure in Wisconsin.

Recent News: Air district officials in Los Angeles County filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking up to $40 million from  Exide Technologies, one of the world's largest manufacturers and recyclers of lead-acid batteries. Exicde has been accused of posing a health risk for emitting too much lead and arsenic, exposing tens of thousands of people to cancer-causing chemicals and has neglected to implement and pollution control systems. The plant, opened in the 1920s, smelts about 25,000 batteries a day. 

Sources:



http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-exide-battery-recycler-sued-20140116,0,2427141.story#ixzz2r08Oc0gG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_poisoning

Recommended Reading:

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/environment/2014/01/10/15578/regulators-tighten-emission-limits-for-arsenic-oth/ utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+893KpccSouthernCaliforniaNews+(KPCC%3A+News)