Delhi Office
Mezzanine Floor, DLF Centre, Savitri Cinema Complex, Greater Kailash 2, New Delhi-110048
Chennai Office
2nd Fl., ABC Complex, Sunny Side,1st Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai- 600020, Tamilnadu, (South) India.
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Dr. Subrata Dutta
Country Director
[email protected]
PROMILA SHARMA MALIK
India Programs Director
[email protected]
SANDEEP DAHIYA
Director Advocacy and Communications
[email protected]
DR. JAYAPRIYA DHANDAPANI
Program Manager
KUMAR BHASKAR
Program Officer
A BHASKAR RAJ
Program Associate
ANNU SHARMA
Admin & Finance Officer
ENGLISH
About Pure Earth India
Pure Earth has been active in India since 2004. Since then, Pure Earth and its local partners have identified 716 contaminated sites, and completed rapid screening assessments at 500 of these. Pure Earth has also conducted a number of risk-reduction projects across India and has engaged with the government on a variety of pollution issues. In recent years, Pure Earth’s focus in India has centered on lead (Pb) contamination.
Pure Earth is currently developing non-assessment activities in India that directly result from our in-depth assessment of lead contamination through the TSIP. These activities are designed to advance a national effort to further formalize the lead-acid battery recycling industry and substantially reduce the volume of lead that enters the environment and the bodies of children in surrounding communities.
One of the primary sources of lead poisoning for children in India is the informal recycling of used lead-acid batteries (ULAB), primarily car batteries. Nationally, lead poisoning is widespread among India’s children. Existing studies estimate that Indian children under 12 have a mean blood lead level (BLL) of 10 µg/dl. It is estimated that diminished IQ in lead-poisoned children results in a loss of $236.1 billion (12.5% of India’s GDP) in economic productivity every year.
Cleaning up lead pollution, protecting school children in Karlmalichak, India
Video credit: Thomas Cristofoletti/USAID
THE MULTI-PRONGED STRATEGY INCLUDES:
• Creation of policy recommendations to improve the effectiveness of India’s Battery Management/Handling Rules and its enforcement;
• Research to illustrate the health and economic damage caused by informal battery recycling;
• Four community-based programs to improve industrial practices and remediate lead contamination; and
• A public education campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of lead exposure.Pure Earth has convened key stakeholders in the public and private sectors who have agreed to update current battery management policies and participate in a study on sources of lead in Bihar.
The first community-based risk mitigation project was launched in Patna in the state of Bihar in 2017. A community education campaign and lead remediation was completed in 2018. Post-intervention blood lead tests of the affected children are underway. Efforts to relocate informal recyclers operating in residential area to an industrial cluster zone is in the planning stages.
In February 2020, Pure Earth completed the first lead source apportionment study carried out in India.
Projects
Ongoing Projects:
• Toxic Sites Identification Program
Completed Projects:
• Bicchadi – Groundwater Contamination
• Jodhpur, Pali and Balotra – Rajasthan – Industrial Waste Management
• Vellore: Lead Poisoning Assessment in Tamil Nadu
• Aruputo Chromium Contamination Assessment
• Chinhat Lindane Manufacturing Industries
• Daurala Groundwater Contamination
• Hema Chemicals Chromium Waste
• Kanpur Groundwater Pollution
• Orissa Abandoned hazardous waste dumpsite
• Panki Katra Fly Ash Contamination
• Roro Hills Legacy Asbestos Mines
• Childhood Lead Exposure and Source Identification Study‚ Patna
Programmatic Solutions
Events
International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
October 24-30th, 2021
Seminar: Understanding Lead Poisoning Prevalence in India
October 11th, 2022, 03:00 – 05:00 PM (IST)
News Coverage
Stay up to date with our work:
- High-level roundtable meet in Delhi deliberates on lead poisoning in children
Dailyhunt April 25th, 2023
- Need to create awareness about lead poisoning, says health secretary
ThePrint April 25th, 2023
- Need to create awareness about lead poisoning, says health secretary
DeccanChronicle April 25th, 2023
- Need to create awareness about lead poisoning, says health secretary
ET Healthworld April 25th, 2023
- Urgent State and National Level Action Plans Needed to Tackle Lead Poisoning in India: Experts
Eastern Herald Oct 12th, 2022
- Urgent State and National Level Action Plans Needed to Tackle Lead Poisoning in India: Experts
Lokmat Oct 11th, 2022
- Urgent State and National Level Action Plans Needed to Tackle Lead Poisoning in India: Experts
Down To Earth Oct 12th, 2022
- Nearly 2.4 Million Deaths In India Due To Pollution In 2019, Highest Globally
NDTV May 18th, 2022
- Pollution Caused One in Six Deaths World-Wide in 2019, Study Says
The Wall Street Journal May 18th, 2022
- At 2.4 million in 2019, India led world in pollution deaths
The Times of India May 18th, 2022
- Pollution caused one in six deaths worldwide in 2019, finds study
The Hindu May 18th, 2022
- प्रदूषण से एक साल में 90 लाख मौतें: लगभग 67 लाख मौतों की वजह वायु प्रदूषण, इससे गरीब देशों को हो रहा भारी आर्थिक नुकसान
Dainik Bhaskar May 18th, 2022
Knowledge Materials
Find public education materials and research:
Blog Posts
Read more about our work in India:
- Bihar, India: How we celebrated a community, and helped them take action on lead poisoning (March 2019)
- Looking For Lead? No Problem! (June 2017)
- In Bihar, Toxic Lead 150 Times Over Limit (Feb 2016)
- India’s Lead Problem: More Than Just Instant Noodles (June 2015)
- Two Studies Reveal the Risks of India’s Unseen Pollution Menace (Nov 2014)
- Report from India: Lead Battery Recycling in the Right and Wrong Way (Feb 2014)
- Paying for Pollution Cleanup in India with a Small Benefit (May 2013)
- India’s Amazing Pollution Story (April 2013)
- A Solution To India’s Pollution Nightmare (Jan 2012)
- Pink Crocodiles and the New Front Against Pollution in India (Mar 2010)
- Off to India to Speak about Pollution and Economic Development (Mar 2010)
Our Partners and Donors
- Public Health Foundation of India
- India Society for Lead Awareness and Research
- India Lead-Zinc Development Association
- NITI-Aayog
- MOEFCC
- CPCB
- International Lead Association
- World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance
- USAID
- UNIDO
- ERM
- Trafigura Foundation
- GiveWell