快猫短视频

SADLY, this is not the definitive book on, as the subtitle has it, 鈥渉ow arsenic caused the world鈥檚 worst mass poisoning鈥�. That disaster is being discharged daily from millions of wells dug in Bangladesh and north-east India over the past quarter-century. These wells were mostly paid for with western aid money. It is the focus of only a quarter of the book鈥檚 184 pages.

That is not to say Venomous Earth isn鈥檛 interesting. Andrew Meharg weaves stories of alchemy and toxic cosmetics, early health and safety law and the wallpaper of William Morris into an interesting and concisely told narrative. But Meharg, professor of biogeochemistry at the University of Aberdeen in the UK, adds little that is new about the Bangladesh disaster when there is surely much more to tell.