VICTIMS of what the World Health Organization calls the 鈥渓argest mass poisoning of a population in history鈥� launched a claim last week for damages against Britain鈥檚 Natural Environment Research Council.
The writ, issued as a test case on behalf of hundreds of Bangladeshis, alleges that in 1992, researchers at the NERC鈥檚 British Geological Survey were negligent for failing to test for arsenic in water from wells sunk as part of an international programme to provide clean drinking water. The wells were seen as a solution to the country鈥檚 high child mortality rate, caused by water-borne diseases in streams and ponds.
But tests later showed that many of the wells are contaminated with arsenic. And the contamination often far exceeds the WHO鈥檚 safety limit of 10 parts of arsenic per billion of water.
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The WHO estimates that between 28 million and 77 million Bangladeshis have drunk water from millions of wells containing potentially harmful concentrations of the metal. Many of them now suffer from arsenicosis, which can cause cancer of the skin, bladder, kidneys and lungs.
The NERC has responded to the writ with a statement vigorously defending itself and the researchers involved. They claim that in 1992, arsenic had never been seen before in geological structures like those into which the wells were sunk. It argues that, given the state of knowledge at the time, there was no duty on the researchers to test for the metal. Before 1995, the scientific community was unaware of the presence of arsenic in groundwater from such aquifers, it says.
Martyn Day of Leigh, Day & Co, one of the two London law firms handling the Bangladeshis鈥� case, says the claim could come to trial at Britain鈥檚 High Court within the next two years. The crux, he says, is to persuade the court that harm to the Bangladeshis would have been much less, or non-existent, if the British Geological Survey scientists had identified the arsenic in well water in 1992.
But the NERC protests its innocence. 鈥淭he BGS does not accept that they can be blamed for the suffering which has occurred and any legal claims, which we regard as wholly misconceived, will be resisted,鈥� it says in its statement.