SADLY, this is not the definitive book on, as the subtitle has it, “how arsenic caused the world’s worst mass poisoning”. 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’s 184 pages.
That is not to say Venomous Earth isn’t 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.…
