#8/1, Block-C, Lalmatia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Our Team
DR. MAHFUZAR RAHMAN
Country Director
[email protected]
MITALI DAS
Communications Lead
[email protected]
MD. LUTFUL KABIR
Research Associate
Project with Uni. of Dhaka
DR. AZIZ HASAN
Advisor
ARIF SIKDER
Advisor
GOLAM MORTUZA MILON
Research Associate
Project with Uni. of Dhaka
ENGLISH | BANGLA
About Pure Earth Bangladesh
Pure Earth Bangladesh started its journey in 2011 and has made progress in expanding capacity, building partnerships, and carrying out foundational research, mainly on the lead sources, toxic site assessments (300+ toxic sites were assessed in Bangladesh), lead remediation program (conducted first known lead remediation that resulted in a 35% decline in children’s blood lead level).
Pure Earth Bangladesh has recently extended its research efforts to identify the lead sources in consumer products including spices and cookware. Pure Earth Bangladesh has partnered with government agencies to develop and implement a Health and Pollution Action Plan (HPAP).
Pure Earth Bangladesh works cooperatively in partnerships that include governments, NGOs, civil society organizations, research institutes, universities, media agencies to reduce lead exposure, raise awareness, and design and implement innovative solutions to save lives. Here we believe that Together, we can end lead pollution.
Lead pollution is a silent killer.
The confirmed and suspected lead sources in Bangladesh are lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling, spices (turmeric), lead-based paint, aluminum cookware, e-waste, contaminated food, jewelry-making, gold waste processing, cosmetics, religious powders, and traditional medicines.
Projects
Ongoing Projects:
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- Market Investigation to Identify Lead Sources
- Protecting Every Child’s Potential
- Toxic Sites Identification Program
- Civil Society Organization Community Outreach
- Health and Pollution Action Plan
- TSIP Training
Completed Projects:
Programmatic Solutions
Research on Lead Sources
Toxic Site Assessments
Lead Remediation Program
Advocacy and Campaigns
The chief concern of lead exposure is its impact on children’s brains.
Lead causes permanent brain damage and IQ loss, and as a result, decreases economic productivity. Productivity losses from lead exposure reduce Bangladesh’s GDP, thus lead is not only a health issue but a poverty-reduction issue. The safe management of the ULAB is also critical to address climate solutions. Lead pollution is not only health, economic and environmental issue. It also undermines many cross-cutting development areas including education, societal stability, and violence.
Events
Prize-giving ceremony of photography contest
Pure Earth Bangladesh, together with its partner, The Hunger Project Bangladesh has organized a photography campaign to engage youth to draw attention to the environmental pollution in their neighborhoods. A total of 36 winners of different categories have received prizes in the prize-giving ceremony.
When: 22 August 2021
Where: Zila Parishad Dak-Bungalow, Mohadevpur, Naogaon.
Virtual Workshop on lead pollution and health roadmap
Pure Earth Bangladesh, in coordination with the Bangladesh Department of Environment (DoE) and with support from the United States Agency for International Development (under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAAA-16-00019), OAK Foundation, Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation SDC, and the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (GAHP) held a virtual workshop titled ‘Advancing a Lead Pollution and Health Roadmap for Bangladesh’. The workshop convened stakeholders with three goals: to share the state of knowledge about lead exposure from all sources in Bangladesh; build a common understanding of the related challenges, and lay the groundwork for a unified approach to lead exposure reduction.
When: 19 July 2021
Where: Virtual via zoom
Press Releases
- Lead Pollution, The Silent Killer: Needs Urgent Attention and Multi-Sectoral Actions, Bangladesh (July 2021)
- New Research Confirms Findings Of Childhood Lead Poisoning Crisis In Low- And Middle-Income Countries (March 2021)
- Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation and UNICEF launch Protecting Every Child’s Potential: A Future Free from Lead Exposure (October 2020)
- A third of the world’s children poisoned by lead, new groundbreaking analysis says, UNICEF and Pure Earth (July 2020)
- Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation and UNICEF announce global partnership to protect children from lead exposure (July 2020)
News Coverage
Stay up to date with our work:
- Harmful effects of lead on human health, Financial Express (December 2021)
- OP-ED: Poison in our blood Dhaka Tribune (November 2021)
- How much lead in blood is too much? The Daily Star (November 2021)
- Exposure to lead through cosmetics should be a big concern, Dhaka Tribune (October 2021)
Knowledge Materials
Blog Posts
Read more about our work in Bangladesh:
Bangladesh: Communities Learn To Fight Rice Husk Pollution
A Mother’s Story: Hope in Kathgora, Bangladesh
“We need to work together to solve this global problem.
Pure Earth opened that door to take unified actions.”
Ashraf Uddin
Director General
Department of Environment (DoE)
“The government has made the eradication of lead exposures
a priority to protect the environment for future generations.”
Ahmed Shamim Al Razi
Additional Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
“It is important to identify all the sources of lead poisoning.
One of the targets of SDG is to reduce chemical waste by 2030.”
Robed Amin
Line Director, NCDC
Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS)
Our Partners and Donors
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