Article Title: Arsenic Crisis
Author: Dilip Mehta
Key Points:
- Children dying from bacteria contaminated water
- 1990's- 95% of Bangladesh had safe drinking water
- Safe water is from using tubewells
- West Bengal aquifers were dangerously filled with arsenic
- Arsenic is also in the tubewells
- 30% of bangledash tubewells contain 50 mg of arsenic in each liter
- 50 mg can be considered a lethal dose
- Grain which is used for food also contain Arsenic
- Water pumping the grain contain arsenic
- Arsenic from the water gets transferred into the grain
- Drinking water containing arsenic is a large case of mass poisoning
- Arsenic is has also been found in many parts of the world even in the U.S
- Symptoms:
- Diarrhea
- bronchitis
- conjunctivitis
- abdominal pain
- Loss of sensation in the palms of hands and soles
- Sores
- 500mg of arsenic leads into skin cancer
- Poisoning is based on dosage and length of the exposure
- Several years are needed to find sollutions to fixing this problem
Summary:
In Bangladesh many people, especially children, are being exposed and dosed with a highly dangerous chemical. The chemical is called arsenic. Arsenic in Bangladesh has been found from coming from many different sources but the main source is through their local drinking water. Many of the families at there use tubewells to get their daily source of water. What they don't know if that each liter that they drink contains 50 micrograms of arsenic which is arguable a lethal dose. It becomes even worse when they find that the arsenic is also found in their rice that they also ingest daily. This is due to the water getting into their agriculture. If they get enough of the dose, it will lead to things such as bronchitis, conjunctivitis, and abdominal pain. When they reach 500 micrograms, they will already be at a high risk of skin cancer.
My thoughts:
When I finished reading this article, I felt much more cautious about where my drinking water and food comes from. To think that arsenic could even reach the U.S is unbelievable. I guess that even at the standard of living that we live at, we should be just as cautious as how people should be in Bangladesh. But how can they if they don't have much education?If they had much more knowledge and sources to get information from, I think that they could have prevented many of those deaths.
In Bangladesh many people, especially children, are being exposed and dosed with a highly dangerous chemical. The chemical is called arsenic. Arsenic in Bangladesh has been found from coming from many different sources but the main source is through their local drinking water. Many of the families at there use tubewells to get their daily source of water. What they don't know if that each liter that they drink contains 50 micrograms of arsenic which is arguable a lethal dose. It becomes even worse when they find that the arsenic is also found in their rice that they also ingest daily. This is due to the water getting into their agriculture. If they get enough of the dose, it will lead to things such as bronchitis, conjunctivitis, and abdominal pain. When they reach 500 micrograms, they will already be at a high risk of skin cancer.
My thoughts:
When I finished reading this article, I felt much more cautious about where my drinking water and food comes from. To think that arsenic could even reach the U.S is unbelievable. I guess that even at the standard of living that we live at, we should be just as cautious as how people should be in Bangladesh. But how can they if they don't have much education?If they had much more knowledge and sources to get information from, I think that they could have prevented many of those deaths.
So what?People in Bangladesh are dying just from their daily water and grain.
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Says who?Dilip Mehta and many scientists.
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What if?What if water was the only way to get dosed? How bad would the situation still be?
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This reminds me of...The movie, The Day After Tomorrow because the water is dangerous.
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