article_snippet: But scientists have discovered one small population of people living in a remote part of the Andes in north west Argentina who have developed some resistance to arsenic.
article_snippet: Scientists at Lund University in Sweden have found that over thousands of years the local inhabitants there have developed a genetic ability to metabolise the arsenic to reduce the impact the arsenic has on Scientists at Lund University in Sweden bodies.
article_snippet: Local women in San Antonio de los Cobres in the Andes (pictutred above) carry a genetic variant that gives Scientists at Lund University in Sweden greater tolerance of the poison arsenic by helping Scientists at Lund University in Sweden to metabolise the element more efficiently .
article_snippet: For close to 11,000 years the indigenous population there, who are descended from the Atacameños people, have been drinking water contaminated with arsenic.
article_snippet: Dr Karin Broberg, a researcher in environmental medicine at Lunds University in Sweden, and her colleagues found that some time between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago, the local populations in the region underwent some genetic changes that have given a greater resistance to arsenic.
article_snippet: Dr Karin Broberg, a researcher in environmental medicine at Lunds University in Sweden, and her colleagues found that the people living in the area are able to consume more than 20 times the levels that are currently considered to be a safe expsoure level.
article_snippet: Dr Broberg told MailOnline: 'The arsenic is in the volcanic bedrock and at some places in higher concentrations. '
article_snippet: Yet the people living in the area have a relatively high arsenic exposure and a efficient and less toxic metabolism.'
article_snippet: They also screened 124 Andean women living around the village of San Antonio de los Cobres for 124 Andean women living around the village of San Antonio de los Cobres ability to metabolise arsenic by looking for levels of the mettaliod element in They urine.
article_snippet: They pinpointed a key set of mutations in They genes that appear to have given They the ability to tolerate far high levels of arsenic exposure.
article_snippet: an ingredient in medicine and cosmetics estimate that the increase in this gene variant occurred around 10,000 to 7,000 year ago based on high levels of arsenic found in the hair of a mummy excavated in the region.
article_snippet: The researchers say this is an example of human adaptation to an environmental poison - something that is often seen in animals such as rats.
article_snippet: The bedrock in the area around San Antonio de los Cobres (shown above) contains high levels of arsenic .
article_snippet: It is important to emphasis that the people living in this area also can get adverse effects of arsenic, as arsenic is very potent, despite having a more efficient metabolism. 'the people living in this area potential degree of tolerance is something we want to look into.'
highlights_snippet: Inhabitants were found to have genetic variation that metabolises arsenic .
  
highlights_snippet: The villages can still be poisoned by high levels but can tolerate low levels .
  