POLLUTION BLOG

Lead exposure mitigation efforts in Indonesia have just made significant progress in 2025. As part of the Strengthening Health Systems to Reduce Lead Exposure project, Yayasan Pure Earth Indonesia in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the National Research...

On 25 January 2026, Bangladesh took a significant leap in tackling one of its most serious public health threats- lead pollution, which has quietly affected millions of children and families across the country. At a rigorous Validation Workshop held at...

During International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) 2025, Pure Earth teams and partners across Africa, Asia, and Latin America mobilized governments, health institutions, youth groups, and the private sector around a clear message: there is no safe level of lead...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia.   “If all parties—the government, businesses, and communities—consistently carry out their roles, duties, and responsibilities, there would be no environmental pollution issues,” said Ahmad Safrudin, Executive Director of the Committee for...

CLICK HERE to read the article in English. “Jika semua pihak—pemerintah, pelaku usaha, masyarakat—konsisten menjalankan peran, tugas, dan tanggung jawabnya, maka tidak ada isu pencemaran lingkungan,” tutur Ahmad Safrudin, Direktur Eksekutif Komite Penghapusan Bensin Bertimbel (KPBB) yang juga seorang aktivis...

This is the third year of the Strengthening Health Systems to Reduce Lead Exposure project, which is designing and implementing programs that identify, monitor, and reduce childhood lead exposure. Since 2023, Pure Earth, Vital Strategies, and local project partners have been...

Fariha glows with joy as she receives the Lead Champion Award from Pure Earth Bangladesh. The recognition marks more than just personal courage—it represents a real turning point in Bangladesh's fight against one of its most pressing environmental crises. Her...

CLICK HERE to read the article in English. “Permasalahan utama dalam pengelolaan aki bekas di Indonesia ini adalah masih maraknya praktik peleburan ilegal.” Begitu Direktur Pengelolaan Limbah Bahan Berbahaya dan Beracun (B3) dan Non B3, Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup/Badan Pengendalian Lingkungan...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia. "The main issue in used lead-acid battery/ULAB management in Indonesia is the widespread practice of illegal ULAB smelting." With that statement, Ir. Achmad Gunawan Widjaksono, MAS., Director of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous...

In a significant milestone towards addressing lead contamination in Bangladesh, Pure Earth Bangladesh, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), and the Department of Environment (DoE) have signed a tri-party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) titled "Collaboration to Enhance...

Pure Earth is pleased to announce the launch of a new program, “Mitigating Lead Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries,” being implemented in Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Peru, and the Philippines. Support for this program comes from a generous...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia. For Muchtar Mawardi, Head of the Environmental Agency (DLH) of Tegal Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, addressing pollution—especially lead contamination—is a major challenge that requires contributions from multiple parties. Under his leadership,...

The implementation of the first phase of blood lead surveillance (BLS) piloting in Indonesia, as part of the Strengthening Health Systems to Reduce Lead Exposure project, has reached a significant milestone. Following extensive preparations since April 2024—including numerous technical meetings...

CLICK HERE to read the article in English. Bagi Muchtar Mawardi, SKM., M.Kes., Kepala Dinas Lingkungan Hidup (DLH) Kabupaten Tegal, persoalan penanganan pencemaran, khususnya timbal, merupakan permasalahan besar yang memerlukan kontribusi banyak pihak. Di bawah kepemimpinannya, DLH Kabupaten Tegal melakukan...

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...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia. The implementation of occupational health programs in Indonesia still faces various challenges. The biggest challenge - according to Dr. Ade Mutiara, MKK, SpOk, - Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) practitioner, is...

CLICK HERE to read the article in English. Penerapan program kesehatan kerja di Indonesia masih menghadapi berbagai tantangan. Tantangan terbesar menurut dr. Ade Mutiara, MKK, SpOk, praktisi Kesehatan dan Keselamatan Kerja (K3), adalah bagaimana meyakinkan manajemen perusahaan bahwa kesehatan kerja...

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...

WHAT IS LEAD? Lead is a naturally occurring chemical element denoted with the symbol Pb derived from its Latin name plumbum. It has an atomic number of 82 and weight of 207.2. With its relatively lightweight, lead stayed in the...

APA ITU TIMBAL? Timbal adalah elemen kimia yang banyak ditemukan di alam. Elemen ini memiliki simbol Pb yang berasal dari nama Latin plumbum. Timbal memiliki angka atom 82 dan berbobot 207,2. Karena beratnya yang relatif ringan, timbal bertahan di kerak...

Watch the video: Transforming Battery Recycling: Protecting Future Generations. Childhood lead poisoning is a global crisis, affecting 1 in 3 children worldwide and leading to learning disabilities, intellectual impairments, and reduced quality of life. The widespread presence of lead in...

Yayasan Pure Earth Indonesia Educational Materials Translated From Bahasa   Lead is highly toxic due to its ability to interfere with various biological processes at the cellular and molecular levels. Here are several reasons why lead is particularly harmful to...

KENAPA PAPARAN TIMBAL SANGAT BERBAHAYA? Timbal sangat beracun karena kemampuannya mengganggu berbagai proses biologis pada tingkat sel dan molekuler. Berikut beberapa alasan mengapa timbal sangat berbahaya bagi kesehatan manusia: Menyusup ke proses biologis penting Timbal dapat meniru kalsium dan seng,...

A recent study titled "Measurement of Heavy Metals in Commercially Available Soybean and Palm Oils and Relevant Health Risk Assessment in Bangladesh" is the first comprehensive attempt to investigate the presence of toxic heavy metals in edible oils consumed by...

As an advocate deeply entrenched in the fight against lead poisoning, I had the distinct honor of attending the recent international convening titled “Lead Poisoning in India: Status, Challenges, and Way Forward,” organized by the Pahle India Foundation, knowledge partner...

Read: Govt Announcement India’s recycling industry is poised for a seismic shift. The 54th GST Council meeting on September 9, 2024, introduced landmark announcements aimed at formalizing the scrap metal sector/battery recycling, including Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) and 2% Tax...

Pure Earth was invited to present on our work addressing lead exposure at the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva this week. The World Health Assembly (WHA) brings together delegates from all 194 member states of the World Health Organization...

CLICK HERE to read the article in English. Selama puluhan tahun, Desa Pesarean, di Kabupaten Tegal, Provinsi Jawa Tengah, Indonesia, terkontaminasi timbel. Lebih dari 18.000 ton aki bekas (Used Lead Acid Batteries / ULAB) dan limbah peleburan logam dibuang di...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia. For decades, Pesarean Village in Tegal Regency, Central Java Province, Indonesia, has been contaminated with lead. More than 18,000 tons of Used Lead Acid Batteries (ULAB) and metal smelting waste were...

Following USAID Administrator Samantha Power’s call for lead-free futures at DAVOS in January of this year, Atul Gawande, Assistant Administrator of USAID Global Health, met with the Philippines’ National Poison Management and Control Center (NPMCC) and Pure Earth Philippines to...

Mencegah dan mengurangi dampak buruk pajanan timbel yang berbahaya bagi lingkungan dan kesehatan terutama bagi anak-anak merupakan komitmen yang terus dijaga oleh Yayasan Pure Earth (PE) Indonesia. Komitmen ini termasuk untuk terus melakukan intervensi dalam upaya penelitian, intervensi teknis, rekomendasi...

Preventing and reducing the adverse effects of lead exposure that is harmful to the environment and health, especially for children, is a commitment that Yayasan Pure Earth (PE) Indonesia continues to maintain. This commitment includes continuing to intervene in research...

During this year's ILPPW campaign, Pure Earth Bangladesh focused on enhancing the visibility of Pure Earth Bangladesh’s grassroots initiatives and underscoring evidence-based solutions through an online campaign and a photography exhibition.  On October 25, 2023, in collaboration with the Department...

New studies reveal devastating new data on lead pollution in Bangladesh, the fourth most lead pollution-impacted country in the world. Learn more in this post by Mitali Das, Communications Lead, and Bushra Humaira Sadaf, Senior Communications Manager, Pure Earth Bangladesh. ...

Written By: Sandeep Dahiya, Director Advocacy and Communications, Pure Earth India This July, Pure Earth, the Institute of Environment and Eco-Development (IEED), Vital Strategies and  Mahavir Cancer Institute and Research Center convened a half-day, high-level conference “Understanding Lead Poisoning Prevalence...

Learn more about how we are building support for action on lead poisoning in Bangladesh in this report from Bushra Humaira Sadaf, Senior Communications Manager, Pure Earth Bangladesh. [caption id="attachment_23810" align="alignnone" width="599"] Organizers and presenters with special guests, chair, and...

Pure Earth Bangladesh plans to protect their country's future by accelerating nationwide awareness through the inclusion of lead pollution into the national curriculum. Learn more in this post from Bushra Humaira Sadaf, Senior Communications Manager, Pure Earth Bangladesh. Protecting Our...

Budi Susilorini, Pure Earth's Country Director for Indonesia, answers 5 questions to give you  insight into her work, and the progress her team has made.  Visit Pure Earth Indonesia for updates, and follow their them on Instagram.      ...

    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....

This report is from Sandeep Dahiya, Pure Earth India's Director of Advocacy and Communications. A high-level roundtable, "A World Free of Lead Poisoning," convened on Tuesday, 25th April 2023, in New Delhi, India, by the Center for Global Development, in...

Update: "One in 36 Million," produced by Pure Earth Bangladesh, has emerged as the winner of the Grand Prix prize at the World Health Organization's (WHO) Health For All film festival. The film, directed by Bangladeshi filmmaker Arifur Rahman and...

In this spotlight, Pure Earth’s Country Director for Bangladesh, Dr. Mahfuzar Rahman, and Pure Earth Bangladesh Communications Lead, Mitali Das, share updates about the team's efforts to mitigate lead pollution in Bangladesh. Follow and stay updated on Pure Earth Bangladesh...

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...

2022 was a year of growth. Pure Earth programs doubled in size, enabling us to expand our focus on lead and mercury in the most impacted countries. As a result of this expansion, long-time Pure Earth officer Drew McCartor, who...

This report from the field by Pure Earth program officer Lavanya Nambiar shares updates about how our work is improving  lives in a village in Bangladesh .  In Mirzapur, a small village on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital city, Dhaka,...

Join us on a walk through a community in Vellore with Sandeep Dahiya, Pure Earth India's Director of Strategic Communications.  The people of Rangapuram, Vellore, India, are busy, have less educational opportunities, and are not very  aware of lead exposure...

Sandeep Dahiya, Pure Earth India’s Director of Strategic Communications, reports on this important meeting on childhood lead poisoning. Pure Earth India, in collaboration with TERI - The Energy and Resources Institute, organized a seminar on “Understanding Lead Poisoning Prevalence in...

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...

On October 20, just days before we launched our global outreach for International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW), we received word that Pure Earth President Richard Fuller was being recognized as one of Vox's Future Perfect 50, honoring individuals building a more perfect future. In...

Pure Earth reached several milestones in 2021, including critical recognition as the most effective organization working today to solve the global childhood lead poisoning crisis! We are especially proud of this as it reflects the hard work put in by the...

Hot and toxic piles of rice husk ash pollute and threaten rice-producing communities in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the world's third-largest rice producer, with 36 million metric tons of rice produced in 2020 alone. This bounty has come at a cost...

[caption id="attachment_19706" align="alignnone" width="600"] Workshop participants used a network mapping exercise in order to identify the most influential actors in their community. Post-it notes with stars signify highly influential groups and people, such as government officials or tea estate owners,...

It was a day to remember. The celebration in the public town square of Karmalichak, a community in Patna, in the state of Bihar, India, was not only fun, but potentially life-changing. Organized by our local partner, the Institute of...

What a terrific team! Seven of the eight founding members of WiME (Women in Mining and Energy) in Indonesia. (left to right : Omar, Dian, Budi, Nukila, Khoirun, Dedy and Maya)   Jan. 2019--This month, a new initiative, Women in Mining...

This April, under the searing sun, over 200 volunteers from HSBC Philippines and the local community showed up to help Pure Earth take action against river pollution. Together, the group planted over 100 Camachileand and Talisay trees along the shoreline of Laguna Lake,...

This blog post is from Indigo Golub, a communications intern at Pure Earth. She is currently undergoing a bachelors degree in History, Law, and Society at the American University of Paris. Meet Dexter. The two-year-old, seen here with his mom,...

This post is by Madeline Walker, Pure Earth Communications Intern. Madeline attends undergraduate college at SUNY Geneseo, where she will receive a dual degree in Political Science & Communication. One day, she hopes to pursue a career in the fields...

  This post is from Andrew McCartor, Pure Earth's Regional Director for South Asia. A procession on the streets of Bihar, India. Finding and confirming pollution can be difficult because polluters don't advertise their activities, and many toxic pollutants are invisible and...

  What is it like to be a pollution fighter for Pure Earth? We followed Lara Crampe (above), Pure Earth's Regional Director for Southeast Asia, during a recent week-long trip to the Philippines, where she met with local partners, visited...

The two lists you see above show the names of people in the village who contributed towards the construction of paved roads that now criss-cross the rural community of Dong Mai in Vietnam. On our recent visit, we saw lists...

A few days ago, we visited a school, playground and homes in one neighborhood in Jakarta to test for toxic lead. Children can get poisoned when they ingest lead flakes or lead dust that comes off of brightly painted playground...

Program ”Penguatan Sistem Kesehatan untuk Mengurangi Paparan Timbel" di Indonesia Bagi organisasi nirlaba, kolaborasi sangat penting dalam mencapai tujuan organisasi dan menciptakan dampak positif bagi masyarakat. Selain itu, sinergi dapat membuat upaya gabungan bisa mencapai hasil yang lebih baik. Pure...

KLIK DI SINI untuk membaca artikel dalam Bahasa Indonesia. “The Strengthening Health System to Reduce Lead Exposure” Program in Indonesia For non-profit organizations, collaboration is crucial in reaching organizational goals and creating a positive impact on the communities. In addition,...

This week's post is from Angela Bernhardt, Executive Director of Communications for Pure Earth. After two and a half years in our New York headquarters, I took my first trip to the field with our Southeast Asia coordinator, Lara Crampe....

Over the past year, we have started to finally see a shift connecting the silos that have kept efforts on the environment, health and development in separate disciplines. The catalyst for much of this progress has come from the creation...

This man is "cooking" lead by the side of a busy road. This is a fairly common scene in Hajipur, home to many of the 40 informal and unregulated recyclers of used lead-acid batteries (ULAB) in Bihar, India. In this densely...

[caption id="attachment_3829" align="alignnone" width="559"] The man with Joe Hayes in Chowa[/caption] Joe Hayes, a hydrogeologist from the US, is a volunteer member of Pure Earth’s technical advisory board. Joe just returned from Kabwe, Zambia where he is helping to manage the...

[caption id="attachment_16120" align="alignnone" width="300"] Instant Noodles by kattebelletje[/caption] Earlier this month, there was a lead poisoning scare involving a brand of instant noodles manufactured in India. The company promptly pulled the product and samples were sent to the Maharashtra Food...

Read the story on Medium. In Manado, at the picturesque tip of North Sulewesi in remote Indonesia, local artisanal gold miners may have found, in their backyards, the key to reducing mercury emissions.  Across Indonesia, you can see roofs of houses...

In India, Pure Earth has been working closely with local officials, industry and other stakeholders on the widely-documented problem of toxic pollution in the country.  In fact the government is planning on prioritizing the top ten worst polluted sites in the country for cleanup,...

http://youtu.be/PBGDERL3t4o Every day, trucks full of used lead-acid batteries from cars, motorbikes and other vehicles are brought in from across Vietnam to the rural village of Dong Mai in the agricultural heartland of Vietnam. Dong Mai is one of thousands of toxic "craft"...

[caption id="attachment_16187" align="alignnone" width="300"] This soccer field used to be highly contaminated with toxic lead. Children were being poisoned everyday.[/caption] In Cinangka, Indonesia, a playground near the primary school was so toxic that parts of the field had lead levels...

This is the second post from Sarita Gupta, Blacksmith’s India director, from her recent trip visiting lead smelters in India. I work for Blacksmith Institute, which cleans up toxic pollution around the world. I never imagined sitting in my New...

  Sarita Gupta, Blacksmith's India director, contributes this post from India.       The fabled land of Rajasthan is known, among other things, for its vividly colored clothing. So when the opportunity came to travel for work to Jaipur, I...

This report is from Conrad Meyer, chair of Blacksmith's board of directors, who is currently in India with Blacksmith. Last week, we traveled to India to meet with the senior management of Gravita, an environmentally friendly recycler of used lead...

Prioritizing Sites For Cleanup in India Engaging the Chinese Public Vietnam's Toxic Craft Villages Exciting things are happening in India. Blacksmith's data on over 400 polluted sites has been integrated into a larger list commissioned by the government. This is the...

China is currently facing a wave of dissatisfaction over the state of pollution in the country with calls for greater transparency. A new Blacksmith project might just have a solution. This report is from Abby Schultz in Blacksmith’s China office: --- The...

                Pure Earth is launching the cleanup of a lead-contaminated soccer field in Cinangka, Indonesia, so that children in the village can play without being poisoned. The project, starting this month, is being...

Our latest post appeared in the Indiaspora blog, reproduced below. Join us on May 7, 2013 for Blacksmith's Benefit for India. An Undesirable Export Recently, the nonprofit I work with received a letter from a man who said he was...

A movement is taking root in the small province of Benguet in the Philippines that might just revolutionize the artisanal gold mining industry and greatly reduce worldwide toxic mercury emissions. Gold miners there are rediscovering a century-old method of gold...

I was in Beijing last week when news broke of a series of lead poisoning outbreaks in China, followed closely by a Human Right Watch report on China's response to its toxic lead problem. (Here are links to the New...

When an American plane went down in North Vietnam during the war, the story goes that a villager knew how to smelt down the plane for valuable aluminum. And that was how the aluminum village began. Today, it is one...

Jairam Ramesh, Richard Fuller, speaking in India I just returned from India last week, where I heard about crocodiles that have reportedly turned pink, and whose tongues have gone white because of dyes polluting the rivers.  I also heard about...

I am heading off to India, today, where I will be the keynote speaker at a gathering about toxic pollution, cleanup and economic development.  I believe this session will spark increasing cleanup efforts in India because of the presenting parties...

In a country as large and diverse as India, Promila Sharma understands the value in bringing people together, even if they are on opposing sides of an argument. "I love the collaborative approach Pure Earth uses to tackle issues," says Sharma, Pure Earth's India coordinator,...