POLLUTION BLOG

In 2024, Pure Earth advanced efforts to elevate awareness of lead poisoning and drive government response through our Global Lead Program. The program measures progress across five key outcomes and related indicators. This blog series will highlight our 2024 results...

We are pleased to share our new report, Global Lead Program: 2024 Results and Achievements, which details the activities and accomplishments of Pure Earth's global, collective effort to reduce lead poisoning. The report also includes an annex listing key milestones achieved...

A wave of international media coverage has brought necessary attention to the lead poisoning crisis in Bangladesh, where 36 million children are estimated to have elevated blood lead levels. A powerful report from Agence-France Presse (AFP) details how the unregulated...

An article in Vox titled How to buy a year of happiness, explained in one chart reports that Pure Earth is one of Vox’s “best buys” for charitable giving to improve wellbeing, based on the Happier Lives Institute report. Read more...

In January, Pure Earth Philippines Country Director Larah Ortega-Ibañez participated in a webinar hosted by the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, providing practical guidance on how to conduct an environmental lead exposure risk assessment.  The session explored strategies for risk...

In partnership with Pure Earth Philippines, Valenzuela City launched its first Blood Lead Level (BLL) screening program in September 2024, focusing on children with disabilities. This was the first city-led BLL screening and first screening for a particular sector, children with...

In April 2024, a global Pure Earth study, "Rapid Market Screening to assess lead concentrations in consumer products across 25 low- and middle-income countries" published in Scientific Reports revealed elevated levels of lead in 12% of cosmetic samples. Two traditional...

Pic 1: Shelves with metal cookware in Chennai, Tamil Nadu market Lead contamination in consumer products is a serious health risk, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where it often goes unnoticed. A recent Pure Earth study, which conducted...

Pure Earth is embarking on a new chapter as we announce the leadership transition of our founder, Rich Fuller, who will step down as President and CEO after 25 years of service, effective November 4, 2024. Under Rich’s entrepreneurial spirit...

This has been an unprecedented week for Pure Earth, and all organizations across the globe working to solve the childhood lead poisoning crisis.  Pure Earth Founder, Rich Fuller and Executive Director, Drew McCartor were in attendance September 23rd at the...

Pure Earth teams around the world joined WHO and dozens of other organizations in marking the 11th year of International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) galvanizing efforts around this year’s theme, “End Childhood Lead Poisoning”. The WHO expanded the list...

On June 15, the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Pure Earth jointly hosted a half-day event, "Get The Lead Out: A Day Connecting Local and Global Action for a World Free of Lead Poisoning," focused on the global lead...

    I believe good comes from hard and heart work. That’s why I’m proud to be part of Pure Earth Philippines, a team willing to put in the hard work, motivated by big hearts beating for the greater good....

Esmond Quansah, Pure Earth Ghana's Country Director, highlights the pollution problems facing his country, and how his team is working to fix it. Learn more about our work in Ghana  and follow Pure Earth Ghana on social media:  Instagram, Twitter,...

In this spotlight, Agustín Gama, Pure Earth’s new Country Director for Mexico, shares an update on the work of our team in Mexico.  Visit the Pure Earth Mexico page to learn more. For Spanish-language access, visit the project website barroaprobado.org...

In this spotlight, Lizeth Olaya Zambrano, Pure Earth’s new Country Director for Colombia, shares an update on the work of our team in Colombia. Their recent accomplishments include winning one of the top prizes in a global competition to conserve...

In 2021, Pure Earth launched an ambitious project to analyze the lead (Pb) content in thousands of consumer products in markets across 25 low- and middle-income countries. This project, the Rapid Market Screening (RMS),  is the first analysis of its...

Below is our letter to the editor published in Vermont's Brattleboro Reformer on Dec. 13, and in the Bennington Banner on Dec. 14, 2022. Dear Editor: We would like to publicly thank Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy for his long-standing and...

Globally, one in three children –up to 800 million–have blood lead levels that are higher than deemed safe by the World Health Organization. Despite clear evidence of harm, many countries do not have sufficient capacity to monitor or regulate lead...

Recent high profile news reports, such NBC's "Paradise Lost: The weight of gold," are bringing fresh attention to the problem of mercury pollution and deforestation. Our latest story from the field shows the progress we are making in researching and...

The Pure Earth Club is a school club comprised of students who are being taught and nurtured to love their environment and to protect it through the reduction of pollution, not only by words but by action. They are supervised...

Each October, the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the focus on toxic lead during International Lead Poisoning and Prevention Week (ILPPW). This year, Pure Earth offices around the world participated in the global campaign by organizing a series of events...

Amazing things can happen when we work together as a global alliance.  The agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that was just adopted, entitled "Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," reflects input from our multi-year campaign to ensure that...