HYDERABAD, Dec 9: A scholar from Bangladesh, Prof Zahurul Alam Chowdhury said that from recent research reports it is evident that there is much concentration of toxic metals in foods and other commodities used by the general public of Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh.

He suggested that the governments of these countries should take necessary measures to control the use of these metals, their compounds and to reduce their contamination at their sources.

He said this while speaking at the two-day “Pakistan-Bangladesh-Iran International Seminar on Analytical Sciences” held in Hyderabad on Monday and Tuesday. It was organized by the Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh.

An eminent scholar from the Department of Chemistry, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Dr M. Jamaluddin Ahmed, presented his paper on “Arsenic Contamination of Groundwater in Bangladesh: Causes, Effect, Speciation, Determination and Remedy”.

He said that the arsenic determination of underground water of Bangladesh has become the gravest concern for millions of people of Bangladesh.

He said “Arsenicosis” was unknown to the common man but now a large number of Bangladeshis have come to know that they have been suffering from a serious disease.

He said that this disease is not a virus but metallic and its name is arsenic.

Dr Ahmed said that the WHO recently reported that one fifth of the population of Bangladesh is exposed to arsenic contamination.

Explaining sources as well as causes of arsenic contamination, he said that there are four possible sources and causes of arsenic population, including geo-chemical process, such as mineral dissolution and leaching of arsenic from soil poses a potential risk to groundwater, agricultural chemicals such as weed killers, fungicides, pesticides, fertilizers, chemical wastes from different industries such as combustion of fossil fuels, i.e. coal, fertilizer plants, phosphate minerals, mining, chromated copper, arsenic-treated wooden poles and fungicidal actions.

He said that a recent survey revealed that the main cause of arsenic pollution in Bangladesh is geo-chemical.

He said that excessive withdrawal of groundwater trigger chemical changes deep underground in many parts of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra basin.

Dr Ahmed said that the arsenic pollution crisis in the region is indeed severe and is pushing the limits of our knowledge and the capacity to respond to it, and added that considering various dimensions of the problem it is essential to develop a cohesive strategy on a regional basis.

In the second session, eminent scientists from Pakistan and Bangladesh delivered lectures on various topics.

Prof Dr Syeed Moosa Hasany from Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Islamabad (PINSTECH), delivered a lecture on the importance of cheaper materials.

He said that a variety of cheaper materials, including industrial and agricultural waste, have been utilized globally in analytical sciences, and added that these materials have been proved to be useful in analytical separation/reconcentration, recovery of trace elements for their very dilute solutions for the treatment of industrial effluents.

On Tuesday, a series of lectures was delivered by eminent scientists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran.

The first session was chaired by Prof Dr Zahurul Alam Chowdhury, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh.

In the session, Dr Akber Mobini Khaledi from the Arak University, Arak, Iran, delivered a lecture on the methodology of improvement of water quality with modern equipment. Dr Tariq Mahmood Ansari from the Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan, spoke on methods to control the pollution of marine environment and the factors responsible for it.

In the second session, chaired by Prof Dr Jamaluddin from Bangladesh, four lectures were delivered.

The concluding session was chaired by organizing secretary of the seminar, Prof Dr M. Iqbal Bhanger.