ARSENIC POISONING

  • 14/10/2000

  • Down To Earth

More than half the population of Bangladesh is facing a threat of arsenic poisoning from drinking contaminated water. Health experts are terming it as "the largest mass poisoning in world history.' According to Allan Smith, epidemiology professor at the Berkeley-based University of California, around 125 million Bangladeshis are exposed to naturally occurring arsenic in water supplies, which will eventually lead to an epidemic of cancers and other fatal diseases.