Review of remediation techniques for arsenic (As) contamination: A novel approach utilizing bio-organisms

• Contamination of arsenic (As) poses a serious risk to human due to its toxicity.
• Human intervention has been an important contributor to the mobilization of As.
• A survey is made to summarize previous efforts for remediation of As pollution.
• An up-to-date knowledge is provided to resolve As pollution with biological tools.

Arsenic (As) contamination has recently become a worldwide problem, as it is found to be widespread not only in drinking water but also in various foodstuffs. Because of the high toxicity, As contamination poses a serious risk to human health and ecological system. To cope with this problem, a great deal of effort have been made to account for the mechanisms of As mineral formation and accumulation by some plants and aquatic organisms exposed to the high level of As. Hence, bio-remediation is now considered an effective and potent approach to breakdown As contamination. In this review, we provide up-to-date knowledge on how biological tools (such as plants for phytoremediation and to some extent microorganisms) can be used to help resolve the effects of As problems on the Earth's environment.