#8/12, Block-A, Lalmatia
Dhaka, Bangladesh

DR. MAHFUZAR RAHMAN
Country Director
MITALI DAS
Communications Lead
FAISAL MAHMOOD
Program Officer
KAWSAR RAHMAN
Admin and Finance Officer
MIZANUR RAHMAN
Consultant
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 levels).
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, and media agencies to reduce lead exposure, raise awareness, and design and implement innovative solutions to save lives. Here we believe that Together, we can solve lead pollution.

Hundreds of people pledged to prevent lead pollution
With the slogan – “Together, we can solve lead pollution”, hundreds of community people, local leaders, government and non-government representatives, police, and media reporters participated in the community and stakeholder engagement event held in Khulna.
One in 36 million: Story of Childhood lead poisoning in Bangladesh

Lead pollution is a silent killer.
The potential lead sources in Bangladesh are lead-acid battery manufacturing and recycling, spices (turmeric), lead-based paint, toys, aluminum cookware, ceramic foodware, e-waste, contaminated food, pigments, amulets, jewelry-making, gold waste processing, cosmetics, religious powders, and traditional medicines.
Projects
Ongoing Projects:
- RMS Project: Rapid Marketplace Screening in Bangladesh
- Protecting Every Child’s Potential
- FFEM Project: Building Capacity to Reduce Childhood Lead Poisoning in Bangladesh
Completed Projects:
- Mirzapur Lead Remediation Project (2022)
- Civil Society Organization Community Outreach (2021)
- Health and Pollution Action Plan (2021)
- Toxic Sites Identification Program (2020)
- Bangladesh (Tangail): Preliminary Site Assessment, ULAB Factory (2018)
- Lead Remediation in Kathgora (2017)
- TSIP Training Dhaka (2009)
Programmatic Solutions

The chief concern of lead exposure is its impact on children’s brains.
Lead causes permanent brain damage and IQ loss hence decreasing economic productivity. Productivity losses from lead exposure reduce Bangladesh’s GDP, thus lead is not only a health issue but a poverty-reduction issue. It also undermines many cross-cutting development areas including education, societal stability, and violence.
Press Releases
- Hundreds of people took oath in an awareness session in Khulna to prevent lead pollution (April 2023)
- Pollution responsible for 9 million deaths in 2019, with little progress in four years: Lancet Report (May 2022)
- Hundreds of community people at Mirzapur joined together in solidarity of putting an end to lead pollution (March 2022)
- 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:
- Hundreds of people took oath in an awareness session in Khulna to prevent lead pollution, The Business Standard (April 2023)
- Preventing, removing lead pollution stressed, The Business Post (April 2023)
- ‘Neurotoxic lead exposure harms Bangladeshi children, pregnant women’, Anadolu Agency News, Turkey (January 2023)
- Why lead poisoning is not yet confined to the history books, Telegraph (November 2022)
- Lead poisoning: Pure Earth wants us to be worried, The Business Standard (October 2022)
- Stop poisoning by lead-based paints to protect children, The Financial Express (October 2022)
- Lead poisoning: 35.5m children affected in Bangladesh The Daily Star (October 2022)
- Govt must control use of lead, shore up issues to save children, The New Age (October 2022)
- Lead poisoning: The next big threat for Bangladesh, The Daily Star (October 2022)
- Pollution In Bangladesh: The Invisible Tango With Death, The Daily Star (May 2022)
- Human chain, rally held marking ‘International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week’ The Business Standard (October 2022)
- Lead poisoning of children alarming, Daily Sun (October 2022)
- SEE MORE NEWS
Blog Posts
Read more about our work in Bangladesh:
- Toxic Lead Cleanup Brings Hope to Residents in Mirzapur and Beyond
- Bangladesh: Workshop Brings Consensus; Launches Unparalleled Unified Response To Lead Poisoning CrisisBangladesh
- Bangladesh: Communities Learn To Fight Rice Husk Pollution
- Mobilizing tea workers to fight pollution
- A Mother’s Story: Hope in Kathgora, Bangladesh
- Children’s Lead Levels Fall Following Cleanup
- Looking for Lead? No Problem!

Knowledge and Advocacy Materials
Knowledge and advocacy materials on the impact, sources, and solutions to lead pollution are to raise awareness, bring changes in the social and behavioral aspects, and advocate to prevent lead pollution. The materials are for various stakeholders including community members, health workers, government and non-government agencies, policy and decision-makers, and media agencies.

“Pure Earth has brought government agencies and battery companies together to ensure sound management of battery recycling.”
Dr. Syed Shahjahan Ahmed
Deputy Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

“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)
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