Poisoning the Mind : Arsenic Contamination and Cognitive Achievement of Children

Poisoning the Mind : Arsenic Contamination and Cognitive Achievement of Children

Bangladesh has experienced the largest mass poisoning of a population in history owing to contamination of groundwater with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. Continuous drinking of such metal-contaminated water is highly cancerous; prolonged...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Asadullah, Mohammad Niaz, Chaudhury, Nazmul
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ABORTION ACCESS TO SCHOOLS ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN ADULTS AGED AQUIFERS ARSENIC BIRTH RATES BREASTFEEDING BUSINESS SCHOOL CANCER CLASS SIZE CLASSROOM CLASSROOM LEVEL CLASSROOMS COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT COGNITIVE SKILLS CONTAMINATION OF DRINKING WATER CONTAMINATION OF GROUNDWATER DRINKING WATER EARLY CHILDHOOD ECONOMICS ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION EDUCATION SECTOR EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT EDUCATIONAL INPUTS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES EDUCATIONAL PARTICIPATION EMPIRICAL STUDIES ENVIRONMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY EROSION HEAD TEACHER HEAD-TEACHERS HEALTH CARE HEALTH EFFECTS HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN WELL-BEING IMMUNITY INCOME INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS KNOWLEDGE FACTOR LABOR PRODUCTIVITY LEARNING LEARNING OUTCOMES LEVEL OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT LITERATURE MATERNAL EDUCATION MORBIDITY MORTALITY NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES NUTRITIONAL FACTORS NUTRITIONAL STATUS PAPERS PARENTAL EDUCATION PATIENTS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY POLICY MAKERS POOR PEOPLE PREGNANCY PRIMARY CYCLE PRIMARY DATA PRIMARY EDUCATION PRIMARY GRADE PRIMARY SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOLING PRIVATE SCHOOL PUBLIC HEALTH PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS RADIO READING RESOURCE CENTRE SCHOOL AGE SCHOOL CATCHMENT AREAS SCHOOL CHILDREN SCHOOL EXPENDITURE SCHOOL FACILITIES SCHOOL GOING SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN SCHOOL LEVEL SCHOOL PARTICIPATION SCHOOL PERFORMANCE SCHOOL QUALITY SCHOOL REGISTERS SCHOOL STUDENTS SCHOOL SURVEY SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SCIENCE STUDY SCREENING SECONDARY EDUCATION SECONDARY SCHOOL SECONDARY SCHOOLS SOCIAL SCIENCE SOUTH AMERICA STILLBIRTH STUDENT PERFORMANCE TARGET SCHOOLS TOXIC SUBSTANCES TOXICITY VICTIMS WATER POLLUTION WATER SUPPLY YOUNG ADULTS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/02/8994117/poisoning-mind-arsenic-contamination-cognitive-achievement-children http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6371

Description
Summary:	Bangladesh has experienced the largest mass poisoning of a population in history owing to contamination of groundwater with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. Continuous drinking of such metal-contaminated water is highly cancerous; prolonged drinking of such water risks developing diseases in a span of just 5-10 years. Arsenicosis-intake of arsenic-contaminated drinking water-has implications for children's cognitive and psychological development. This study examines the effect of arsenicosis at school and at home on cognitive achievement of children in rural Bangladesh using recent nationally representative school survey data on students. Information on arsenic poisoning of the primary source of drinking water-tube wells-is used to ascertain arsenic exposure. The findings show an unambiguously negative and statistically significant correlation between mathematics score and arsenicosis at home, net of exposure at school. Split-sample analysis reveals that the effect is only specific to boys; for girls, the effect is negative but insignificant. Similar correlations are found for cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes such as subjective well-being, that is, a self-reported measure of life satisfaction (also a direct proxy for health status) of students and their performance in primary-standard mathematics. These correlations remain robust to controlling for school-level exposure.

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