A study on "Arsenic in groundwater of Bangladesh: Contamination in the Food Chain" jointly conducted by the Department of Soil, Water and Environment of Dhaka University and the Common-wealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) examined a thousand samples of crops, cereals and vegetables, a thousand samples of soil and 400 samples of water from 50 upazilas in 15 most affected regions. These samples were analysed in laboratories within the country and in Australia. The samples were collected from Rangpur, Dinajpur, Kushtia, Jessore, Faridpur, Laxmipur, Narayanganj, Rajshahi, Pabna, Munshiganj, Meherpur and Dhaka. Described by one public health expert as "the worst mass poisoning in history," some 36 million people have been exposed to elevated arsenic levels in the Ganges Delta region. According to the World Health Organisation, as many as 270, 000 may die from drinking arsenic contaminated water. But those figures could be far worse if food is also taking up the toxic element. "Up to now it's been largely ignored," says Andrew Meharg, a biogeochemist at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. With colleague Mazibur Rahman, Meharg sampled soils at 70 sites throughout Bangladesh and rice from seven different regions.
...