Climate crisis to increase cancer risk for tens of millions of people in Bangladesh

Rohingya children collect drinking water at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photograph: Shafiqur Rahman/AP

Climate breakdown will put tens of millions of people in Bangladesh at heightened risk of cancer from contaminated well water, according to research.

Sea level rises, unpredictable flooding and extreme weather caused by the climate heating up will accelerate the release of dangerous levels of arsenic into the country’s drinking water, say scientists.