February 17, 2003
The Daily Star

Editorial
                        
Arsenic in food chain What is delaying a comprehensive mitigation strategy?


        Estimates of Bangladeshis exposed to high levels of arsenic vary
from a low of 28-35 million to a high of 77 million, more than half the
country's population. The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes arsenic
contamination of groundwater as "the largest mass poisoning of a population
in history" and the World Bank, as "one of the world's primary environmental
challenges". The development partners have pumped millions of dollars into
different arsenic mitigation projects since dangerous levels of the poison
were detected in deep tube well water in 1993. The government and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have undertaken separate projects to
raise awareness of arsenic contamination, mark out the affected tube wells,
develop test kits and, to a limited scale, treat patients of arsenicosis.

Still, a huge majority in the affected areas drinks the poisoned water. 
They have little choice.

While the mitigation efforts wobble along and the government
struggles to come up with a comprehensive strategy, the arsenic crisis
spreads its wings. Speakers at a recent international seminar have 
warned increased arsenic in soil and water may sneak into the food chain. 

What's more, naturally-occurring arsenic and arsenic-rich wastes, generated 
from a wide range of removal systems, which are often unsafe, pose a serious 
threat to public health. The speakers hit the nail on the head when they said
although considerable work has been done on arsenic removal from
contaminated groundwater and alternative water supply options, presence of
arsenic in irrigation water has not received due attention.

        Such a limited outlook on the arsenic crisis boils down to absence
of a comprehensive national strategy. The government has to initiate more
research on arsenic contamination, both direct and indirect. Alongside
detection of arsenic-contaminated deep tube wells, development of test kits
and filters and treatment of arsenicosis patients, it should sponsor
research into the possibility of the silent killer sneaking into the 
food chain. In a paper, scheduled to appear this year in the Water Resources
Research publication of the American Geophysical Union, the authors 
have concluded that replacing the most tainted wells with deeper wells will
eliminate about 70 per cent of the illness, assuming arsenic levels 
remain low in the deep wells. However, the possibility of arsenic percolation 
into the food chain points to another scary aspect of the crisis. It's time 
the government shored up its arsenic combat strategy.