Arsenic Contamination: Unavoidable Natural Phenomenon or an Anthropogenic Crisis

Abstract

Arsenic contamination of drinking water has transcended geographic boundaries and degenerated into a global socio-economic menace. The major countries affected are Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, China, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, New Zealand, South Africa, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, USA and USSR. This commentary discusses the cause and effect of chronic arsenic poisoning along with the recent technologies involved in removal of arsenic from contaminated drinking water. For the sheer pervasiveness and abject mortality caused by the contamination in Bangladesh, we focus on it as typical of many places around the world. We hypothesize that while science has contributed commensurately to diminish arsenic contamination, government policies have often failed to deliver on those scientific advances. Thus, while a multitude of geological features play a defining role in determining the extent of arsenic levels in ground water, we seek to reinforce the history of inaction on the part of various institutions in tackling the problem which has further exacerbated the sufferings of the affected populations.