Assessing a Medicinally Important Common Indian Weed Growing in the Arsenic-Affected Areas of West Bengal, India, Considering Its Impact on Human Health

Euphorbia hirta is used traditionally for medicinal purposes. A vast stretch of land in West Bengal is arsenic affected, where agricultural activities present the hazard of arsenic entering the food chain putting the entire community at health risk. The present work tried to study if these areas could be safely utilized to grow this medicinal plant. In this study, the medicinal plant Euphorbia hirta and a known hyperaccumulator Brassica juncea were exposed to a high level of arsenic, and after a certain span of time, arsenic translocation in both the plants was checked. The data revealed that Euphorbia hirta is not a hyperaccumulator and does not translocate high levels of arsenic to the aerial parts of the plant as compared to Brassica juncea. It was also found that the biochemical and genetic effects of arsenic stress were enhanced significantly more in Brassica juncea than in Euphorbia hirta. Thus, the present study points to the growth potential of the common medicinal weed Euphorbia hirta in the arsenic-affected areas without being a cause of human health concern.