The topic to be examined and analyzed is concerns the contamination of the public drinking water in Bangladesh with alarmingly high levels of arsenic, a chemical that can cause a number of problems in its population, both subtle and obvious. Furthermore, the article also examines some of the specific negative effects that arsenic can have on the population, and why allowing the contamination of water in Bangladesh could have dire repercussions for the citizens of Bangladesh. .
The article cites some of the health effects of arsenic poisoning, stating that effects of arsenic poisoning are slow to arise, but can be deadly (Rahman, 2002). These symptoms include things like moderate to severe skin lesions (including keratosis and hyperpigmentation), as well as the ability to cause cancer, in many cases (Rahman, 2002). These two symptoms represent the most prominent threats when dealing with arsenic, although the study also cites rising mortality rates, likely at least partially attributable to the arsenic in water (Rahman, 2002). As to the actual cause of the arsenic contamination in Bangladesh, the study postulates that the poisoning is actually natural, and most likely the result of a combination of oxidation and the dissolution of arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite, which can lead to extremely high concentrations of dissolved arsenic, which then makes its way into the drinking water of Bangladesh (Rahman, 2002). The reason this problem is so large for Bangladesh, among other countries, is because the arsenic actually contaminated the river systems of Bangladesh, becoming absorbed into iron or manganese oxyhydroxides, which were then deposited into floodplains (Rahman, 2002). Eventually, this made its way into the ground water, and eventually the bodies of many Bangladesh citizens.