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A recent publication by researchers at the School of Environmental Studies (SOES), Jadavpur University, reveals not only rise in arsenic contamination of paddy plants from ground water in West Bengal, but also that concentration of ‘arsenic accumulation’ depends on the variety of paddy and its stage in the crop cycle. The study titled ‘Arsenic accumulation in paddy plants at different phases of pre-monsoon cultivation’, published earlier this year in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Chemosphere, highlights the processes and dependencies of arsenic trans-location in rice from contaminated irrigation water. Samples for the study were taken from the Deganga block in the State’s North 24 Parganas district, an area that’s worst affected by ground water arsenic contamination.