BBC Learning English
Words in the News
22
nd
March 2010
Bangladesh water may still be unsafe
Words in the News
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2010
Page 1 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com
A new report by the UN and the Bangladesh government has found that 20 million
Bangladeshis could still be drinking unclean water. The report, marking World Water Day,
comes almost 20 years after the problem was first discovered. This report from Mark
Dummett:
The researchers found that arsenic continues to be a major threat to the good health of
millions of Bangladeshis, almost two decades after the problem was first detected, despite a
massive effort to provide safe drinking water.
They also found that rice, the country's staple food, can also contain potentially dangerous
levels of arsenic, if the crop is irrigated with contaminated water, as happens in several
parts of the country.
Ministers say that more research is needed on this and that people should not be alarmed.
Arsenic poisoning can cause cancers, heart and lung disease. It first became a problem in
Bangladesh in the 1970s after the UN dug millions of new tube wells. The water that these
wells tapped was contaminated with arsenic, and millions were affected in what the World
Health Organisation termed 'the greatest mass poisoning in history'.
Mark Dummett, BBC News, Dhaka
