SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Table SI-1. ICP-MS parameters for urinary antimony analysis.

# / Parameter / Setting
1 / Analog Stage Voltage / -1756
2 / Autolens / On
3 / Auxiliary gas / Argon
4 / Auxiliary gas flow / 1.2 ml min-1
5 / Blank subtraction / After internal standard
6 / Cell Path Voltage Std / -14.00
7 / Cell Rod Offset Std / -17.00
8 / Cone / Nickel
9 / Detector mode / Dual mode (Pulse and Analog)
10 / Discriminator Threshold / 15.00
11 / Dwell time / 100 ms
12 / ICP RF Power / 1200
13 / Injector / 2.0 mm quartz
14 / Instrument / PE Sciex Elan-DRC-II Axial Field Technology
(Perkin Elmer Inc., USA)
15 / Internal standard / Te130, Lu175
16 / Isotope ratio mode / Off
17 / Lens Voltage / 5.75
18 / Measurement unit / Cps
19 / Monitored ion for selected elements in the study / Br79, Sb121
20 / Nebulizer / Meinhard
21 / Nebulizer gas / Argon
22 / Nebulizer gas flow / 0.96 ml min-1
23 / Plasma gas / Argon
24 / Plasma gas flow / 15.0 L min-1
25 / Pulse Stage Voltage / 1200
26 / Quadrupole Rod Offset Std / 0.00
27 / Read delay pump speed / -20 rpm
28 / Read delay time / 75 s
29 / Readings/replicates / 1
30 / Replicates / 5
31 / RF power / 1200 W
32 / RPa / 0.00
33 / RPq / 0.25
34 / Sample flush pump speed / -20 rpm
35 / Sample flush time / 0 s
36 / Scan mode / Peak hopping
37 / Spray chamber / Quartz cyclonic
38 / Sweeps/reading / 10
39 / Wash pump speed / -20 rpm
40 / Wash time / 0 s

Note: a) Negative pump speed indicates pump rotation direction, and b) Zero flush and wash times were used since a blank was run instead following each study sample analysis to assess matrix, carryover, and interference effects; which were none for antimony.

Table SI-2. ICP-MS parameters for water antimony analysis.

# / Parameter / Setting
1 / Instrument / Thermo XSeries 2 ICP-MS
(Thermo Scientific Inc., Germany)
2 / Forward power (W) / 1404
3 / Nebulizer gas (L/min) / 0.98
4 / Auxiliary gas (L/min) / 0.80
5 / Cool gas flow (L/min) / 13.0
6 / Extraction lens voltage (V) / -153
7 / Hexapole bias (V) / -4
8 / Sample uptake (s) / 60
9 / Wash time (s) / 30
10 / Dwell times per isotope (ms) / 200
11 / Number of points per peak / 1
12 / Number of repeats per sample / 4
13 / Total acquisition time (min) / 3
14 / Internal standard / Te130, Lu175
15 / Major Settings
Extraction / -149
Lens 1 / -1263
Lens 2 / -80
Focus / 11.6
D1 / -44.7
D2 / -140
Pole Bias / -1
Hexapole Bias / -4
Nebulizer / 0.98
15 / Minor Settings
Lens 3 / -195.3
Forward Power / 1404
Horizontal / 49
Vertical / 418
DA / -32.9
Cool Gas / 13
Auxiliary Gas / 0.8
Sampling Depth / 150
16 / Global Settings
Standard Resolution / 120
High Resolution / 70
Analogue Detector / 2000
PC Detector / 3245

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Table SI-3. Quality control analyses associated with antimony measurements using ICP-MS*.

Matrix / LOD / LOQ / Linearity / Degree of Determination (R2) / QA/QC
Spiked Concentration / Standard Reference Material (SRM)
5 ng L-1 spike / NIST 2670a** (82.4 ng L-1)
Experimental Data
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Recovery (%)
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Experimental Data
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Recovery (%)
Mean ± SD
(RSD %)
Urine / 1.0
(ng L-1) / 5.0
(ng L-1) / 5-500
(ng L-1) / 0.998 / 5.2 ± 0.7 (13)
[n=6] / 104 ± 14 (13)
[n=6] / 90.7 ± 4.5 (5)
[n=6] / 110 ± 6 (5)
[n=6]
Spiked Concentration / Standard Reference Material (SRM)
0.5 µg L-1 spike / NIST 1643e*** (0.583 µg L-1)
Experimental Data
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Recovery (%)
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Experimental Data
Mean ± SD
(RSD %) / Recovery (%)
Mean ± SD
(RSD %)
Water / 1.0
(ng L-1) / 5.0
(ng L-1) / 5-5000
(ng L-1) / 0.999 / 0.52 ± 0.03 (6)
[n=6] / 104 ± 6 (6)
[n=6] / 0.53
[n=1] / 91
[n=1]

* The model and make of ICP-MS used for Sb analysis in urine and water were PE Sciex Elan DRC-II Axial Field Technology, PerkinElmer, USA and Thermo XSeries 2, Thermo Scientific, Germany; respectively.

**NIST 2670a urine standard reference was digested and diluted 10 times to yield Sb at 82.4 ng L-1 concentration for testing.

***NIST1643e water standard reference was diluted 100 times to yied Sb at 583 ng L-1 concentration for testing.

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Table SI-4. Gender based representation of per capita water consumption from major water sources and associated urinary Sb levels.

ID# / Per Capita Water Consumption (L day-1 person-1) / Urinary Antimony (Mean ± SD)
PET Bottle / PC Bottle / Tap / Cr-unadjusted
(ng L-1) / Cr-adjusted
(ng g-1)
MALE
3 / 0.54 / 1.3 / 0.00 / 113 ± 12 / 40 ± 4
5 / 0.00 / 0.9 / 2.50 / 149 ± 0.2 / 146 ± 0.2
13 / 0.29 / 1.3 / 0.21 / 61 ± 8 / 43 ± 6
14 / 0.00 / 1.3 / 0.50 / 83 ± 1 / 23 ± 0.3
16 / 1.32 / 0.6 / 0.00 / 142 ± 4 / 30 ± 1
19 / 0.00 / 0.0 / 1.50 / 59 ± 7 / 206 ± 25
22 / 0.00 / 0.3 / 2.00 / 60 ± 9 / 201 ± 31
29 / 0.07 / 0.5 / 1.71 / 33 ± 8 / 94 ± 22
31 / 0.75 / 1.8 / 0.00 / 103 ± 13 / 52 ± 7
32 / 1.39 / 1.8 / 0.00 / 113 ± 33 / 58 ± 17
33 / 3.43 / 0.0 / 0.14 / 168 ± 10 / 42 ± 2
34 / 0.00 / 0.3 / 0.82 / 114 ± 5 / 34 ± 1
35 / 2.04 / 0.0 / 0.29 / 153 ± 20 / 39 ± 5
FEMALE
1 / 2.86 / 0.0 / 0.00 / 106 ± 6 / 56 ± 3
2 / 1.93 / 1.1 / 0.25 / 27 ± 0.4 / 54 ± 1
4 / 0.07 / 1.0 / 1.35 / 52 ± 4 / 303 ± 26
6 / 0.00 / 1.6 / 4.00 / 67 ± 10 / 152 ± 22
7 / 0.29 / 1.3 / 2.66 / 98 ± 23 / 191 ± 44
8 / 0.21 / 0.7 / 0.07 / 89 ± 5 / 59 ± 4
9 / 0.07 / 2.8 / 0.00 / 90 ± 7 / 102 ± 7
10 / 1.45 / 1.0 / 0.00 / 82 ± 2 / 80 ± 2
11 / 0.29 / 0.8 / 0.39 / 87 ± 26 / 54 ± 16
12 / 2.04 / 1.6 / 0.00 / 97 ± 3 / 431 ± 15
15 / 2.34 / 1.4 / 0.61 / 110 ± 25 / 269 ± 63
17 / 0.50 / 2.8 / 1.08 / 101 ± 9 / 190 ± 16
18 / 1.86 / 0.4 / 0.18 / 266 ± 4 / 582 ± 8
20 / 1.34 / 0.7 / 0.00 / 50 ± 4 / 557 ± 42
21 / 2.14 / 0.1 / 0.00 / 108 ± 14 / 183 ± 23
23 / 0.36 / 1.0 / 0.48 / 182 ± 45 / 241 ± 59
24 / 0.57 / 0.5 / 0.04 / 84 ± 11 / 60 ± 8
25 / 1.20 / 0.0 / 0.86 / 105 ± 28 / 38 ± 10
26 / 0.04 / 0.7 / 0.82 / 86 ± 4 / 141 ± 7
27 / 0.04 / 2.7 / 5.86 / 56 ± 13 / 648 ± 151
28 / 4.93 / 2.3 / 0.00 / 216 ± 51 / 75 ± 18
30 / 3.50 / 1.1 / 0.00 / 91 ± 10 / 378 ± 42

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Figure SI-1. Daily water consumption rates for bottled water and tap water the two predominant water sources used by our study participants. Each water source is classified into three major water uses.

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Figure SI-2. Association for ln-Cr adjusted U-Sb between first and second urine spot collection.

A
B

Figure SI-3. Relationship between age (upper panel) and BMI (lower panel) with ln Cr uadjusted (left) and adjusted (right) U-Sb.

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