Pity Bangladesh

Thousands of villagers died every year from drinking the microbe-laden water fetched from small, fetid ponds. The government and an international relief agency embarked upon a massive campaign to provide safe, drilled wells. No one suspected the aquifers those wells tapped were contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic. Now, millions face certain death from the poison.

In any other country, this tragedy would be shocking. But this is Bangladesh, a nation synonymous with tragedy. For those lucky enough to have been born in the blessed lands of the world, to think of Bangladesh is to think of famine, disease, flood, drought, despair.

This tragedy started with the best of intentions. Shortly after the nation of Bangladesh was carved out of Pakistan in 1971, the new government and UNICEF rightly determined the epidemics of cholera, dysentery and other illnesses originating in the soupy surface waters had to be stopped. In the most expensive and successful public-works projects this part of the world has ever seen, more than 4 million tube wells were sunk into the subterranean aquifers. No one suspected that many, maybe most, of the aquifers recharged by Himalayan runoff are contaminated with a deadly, highly carcinogenic poison.

The skin lesions began showing up about 15 years ago, followed by the aching joints, the decaying flesh, the wasting away. At first, it was assumed to be leprosy, just one more of the indignities nature heaps upon this sorrowful land.

Dipankar Chakraborti, a Bengali-born analytical chemist at the University of Calcutta, thought otherwise. While visiting his home village 10 years ago, Mr. Chakraborti recognized the symptoms he saw all around him not as leprosy, but as the cumulative effect of arsenic poisoning by the microdose.

At first, Mr. Chakraborti was seen as a Cassandra, as an alarmist, a gadfly. He persevered, going into debt to start a water-testing project. Along with two physicians, he opened a free hospital. Today, he is a national hero. Although unknown outside of the subcontinent, he truly is a world hero.

The World Bank has extended a $32.4 million credit to Bangladesh for arsenic control. UNICEF and the World Health Organization are devoting scarce resources to well-testing and purification. Still, the outlook is bleak, so much damage has been done.

Bangladesh is desperately poor. Its 126 million people have a per capita income of $266. Per year. At least 18 million have irreversible arsenic poisoning. Tens of millions more are in the early stages where treatment may help if care is available. As the lucky ones of the blessed lands enter into a season dedicated to giving, perhaps something could be set aside for pitiful Bangladesh.