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2.1.2.1 Toxic arsenic hazard levels for cattle 

 The toxic concentration of arsenic in cattle blood was 

 reported as 0.17 - 1.0 ppm by Puis (1981) (Table 5). No other 

 data were found in the reviewed literature on elevated arsenic 

 levels in cattle blood. Puis (1981) reported arsenic concentra- 

 tions of 2-14 ppm in cattle urine was indicative of arsenic 

 toxicosis. Peoples (1964) found up to 7.95 ppm in the urine of 

 cows which consumed a diet of 1.25 mg/kg "arsenic acid" without 

 apparent toxicity. Lakso and Peoples (1975) reported total 

 arsenic in cattle urine of 4.86 and 6.35 ppm for cows fed 2.75 

 mg/kg sodium arsenate and 1.75 mg/kg potassium arsenite respec- 

 tively without any toxicity symptoms. The lack of cases of 

 documented toxicity in the 2 to 8 ppm urine arsenic range suggests 

 that a toxic hazard level of 8 to 14 ppm arsenic in cattle urine 

 may be more appropriate but, due to the limited data base, Puis' 

 (1981) range of 2 to 14 ppm has been recommended for this parame- 

 ter . 



Toxic arsenic levels 1.5 and 5 ppm in cattle kidney and liver 

 tissue respectively have been recommended (Table 5) . All kidney 

 arsenic levels above 1.5 ppm found in the reviewed literature were 

 associated with toxicity. In most of these cases, poisoning was 

 acute and therefore observed concentrations were relatively low. 

 Kidney concentration criteria for chronic arsenic poisoning in 

 cattle was reported as 5.0 to 53 ppm (Puis 1981). Few data were 

 found in the review to determine the accuracy of this range. Acute 

 arsenic toxicity was reported for cattle with liver arsenic levels 

 as low as 1.6 ppm (Dickinson 1972), and toxicity was common in the 

 2 to 5 ppm range (Table 4). The highest nontoxic value for cattle 

 liver arsenic content found in the literature was 1.2 ppm (Peoples 

 1964). The range from 1.6 to 5 ppm represents the range in which 

 acute poisoning has been documented (Dickinson 1972, Rosiles 1977) 

 but is below typical values reported for chronic poisoning (Puis 

 1981). Puis (1981) reported toxic cattle liver concentration 

 ranges of 2.0 to 15 and 7.0 - 70 ppm for acute and chronic 

 poisoning, respectively. The higher animal tissue concentrations 



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