In a rather alarming revelation, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has sounded the alarm bells over pesky heavy metal contaminants rearing their toxic heads in the mighty Mekong River. Where might they hail from, you ask? Indications point towards some rather dodgy mining operations gallivanting about in Myanmar. Now, while the words ‘heavy metal’ might drum up images of head-banging tunes, this is anything but a rock concert. The situation has been dubbed as “moderately serious,” which, in the world of bureaucratic peacefulness, translates to a stern wagging of the finger at whoever’s responsible. Recently, the MRC put on its science gloves and conducted some rigorous water quality assessments. To absolutely no one’s joy, they found arsenic levels giving a nasty surprise in various locations along the river. Specifically, their focus zeroed in on the Kok River and snippets of the Mekong itself, where arsenic decided to crash the…
