Letter: In Brief

Thursday 17 September 1998 23:02 BST

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Sir: I have just returned from Calcutta, where I had discussions with university researchers about arsenic in the drinking water of Bangladesh. On the basis of tube well data already available the problem cannot be "sensationalised" as your Unicef correspondents claimed (letter, 16 September).

The situation is dire, arsenic-contaminated tube well water is routinely used for drinking and cooking and the scale of the response from whatever quarter is grossly inadequate. The millions of Bangladeshis who suffer the effects of arsenic poisoning will not be impressed by an international agency that thinks this problem has been "sensationalised".

Professor JOHN WHITELEGG

School of the Built Environment

Liverpool John Moores University

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