Toxic 'time bomb' threatens Mekong river basin (opens in new tab)

Doctors have found elevated levels of toxic arsenic in his fingernails and urine, with the heavy metal also detected in the river which millions of people in Southeast Asia depend on. Testing suggests the contamination, which experts and campaigners trace back to illegal mining in Myanmar, is now spreading downstream. Locals used to buy their fish directly from Somdet on a pier near Chiang Saen in northern Thailand, on the border with Myanmar and Laos. But since authorities detected arsenic a...