#8/1, Block-C, Lalmatia
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Our Team
DR. MAHFUZAR RAHMAN
Country Director
[email protected]
DR. AZIZ HASAN
Senior Advisor
ARIF SIKDER
Senior Advisor
MITALI DAS
Communications Lead
[email protected]
MD. LUTFUL KABIR
Field Investigator
Project with Uni. of Dhaka
GOLAM MORTUZA MILON
Health and Safety Officer
Project with Uni. of Dhaka
NUZHAT FERDOUS ISLAM
Communications Associate
FAISAL MAHMOOD
Program Officer
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.
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
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
Training on Benchmarking Assessment Tool (BAT) on Environmentally Sound Management of Batteries
Pure Earth Bangladesh, the International Lead Association (ILA), and ESDO in collaboration with PMR, and UNICEF hosted a training on using the Benchmarking Assessment Tool (BAT) to monitor and manage used lead acid batteries in a safe, formal, and environmentally-sound manner.
The training session was conducted by ILA consultant and battery safety and recycling expert, Brian Wilson. About 40 participants from the Department of Environment, battery industries, research institutions, and NGOs participated.
The training session was conducted by ILA consultant and battery safety and recycling expert, Brian Wilson. About 40 participants from the Department of Environment, battery industries, research institutions, and NGOs participated.
When: 7 to 10 November 2022
Where: Lakeshore Hotel, Gulshan, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Press Releases
- Pollution responsible for 9 million deaths in 2019, with little progress in four years: Lancet Report
- 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:
- 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)
- BD among riskiest as over 35.5m babies affected, The Financial Express (October 2022) SEE MORE NEWS
Knowledge Materials
Find public education materials and research:
- Advocacy Leaflet: Major lead statistics & Recommendation
- Sticker: Sources of Exposure to Lead
- Sticker: Organ and Age-specific damages by lead
- Sticker: Campaign Slogans to Prevent Lead Pollution
- Sticker: Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Human Body
- Mirzapur Lead Poisoning Remediation Project Leaflet
- Global Lead Fact Sheet
- Bangladesh Lead Pollution Fact Sheet
- Kathgora Lead Poisoning Awareness Laflet
- Kathgora Lead Poisoning Awareness Poster
- Turmeric means “yellow” in Bengali: Lead chromate pigments added to turmeric threaten public health across Bangladesh
- Examining the Relationship Between Blood Lead Level and Stunting, Wasting, and Underweight
- Bangladesh HPAP Social Media Posts
“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)
Our Partners and Donors
