Environmental irony: summoning death in Bangladesh

Atkins, P.J.; Hassan, M.M.; Dunn, C.E.

doi:10.1068/a38123

Environmental irony: summoning death in Bangladesh

Atkins, P.J.; Hassan, M.M.; Dunn, C.E.

Authors

Peter Atkins p.j.atkins@durham.ac.uk

M.M. Hassan

C.E. Dunn

Abstract

The arsenic crisis that affects at least thirty million water consumers in Bangladesh has been called the world’s greatest ever environmental health disaster. Although the problem and the potential solutions have been presented confidently in the media, the argument of this paper is that, ironically, very little of the science or the technology is certain. From the spatial and depth variabilities of contamination, through safety thresholds, to the accuracy of field testing kits, we find indeterminacy. We argue that rather than shying away from such uncertainty, however, mitigation policies must acknowledge and embrace it if any real progress is to be made.

Citation

Atkins, P., Hassan, M., & Dunn, C. (2007). Environmental irony: summoning death in Bangladesh. Environment and Planning A, 39(11), 2699-2714. https://doi.org/10.1068/a38123

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2007-05
Deposit Date	Feb 13, 2008
Publicly Available Date	Nov 27, 2012
Journal	Environment and Planning A
Print ISSN	0308-518X
Electronic ISSN	1472-3409
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	39
Issue	11
Pages	2699-2714
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1068/a38123

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Copyright Statement
Peter Atkins, Manzurul Hassan, Christine Dunn 2007. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and planning A, 39/11, 2699-2714, 2007, 10.1068/a38123