According to a new study published in journal Lancet, nearly 20% of the people, who died in Bangladesh, in the last one decade, were infected with arsenic contamination in the water.

Dr. Habibul Ahsan, from the University of Chicago Medical Center, and the lead researcher, said that millions of Bangladeshis are vulnerable to the deaths due to water contamination.

He added that there is an urgent need to curbing this contamination in the nation's water supply.

Arsenic essentially affects the skin, kidneys, liver and the cardiovascular system, as it is highly toxic in nature.

The study claimed that the water supplied in, Argentina, Chile, and some regions in India and US, is dug from arsenic-contaminated wells.

The researchers claimed that as many as 77 million people in Bangladesh are at high risk of infection due to the water contamination.

These people have been consuming toxic water supplied from hand-pumped wells since the 70s.

According to the World Health Organization, the amount of people exposed to the contamination has been found to be the highest in Bangladesh.

"We know very high levels of arsenic are harmful, but we just don't know what the lowest safest dose that could be harmless is", said Ahsan.