Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Earth

Drinking at the west's toxic well

By Fred Pearce

29 March 2006

Dipankar Chakraborti comes from a small village in West Bengal, India. He is an analytical chemist and epidemiologist. He is now director of the school of environmental sciences at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, West Bengal, and advises globally on the problems of arsenic pollution.

What’s the problem with taking help from the west?

In my experience, when you have million-dollar projects not much trickles down to the villages. Not after the government and local officials and foreign consultants, with their five-star hotels and travel and per-diem expenses, have all taken their share. The Bangladeshi government got a “soft” loan from…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop