Why We Prioritize Lead and Mercury
Pure Earth is a nonprofit environmental health organization committed to solving the global pollution crisis with practical, evidence-based solutions. We work to protect people—especially children and pregnant women—and the planet from the harmful effects of toxic pollution, with a current focus on reducing lead and mercury exposure in low- and middle-income countries.
Lead and mercury are among the most widespread and dangerous pollutants in low- and middle-income countries. Lead likely causes more disease burden than any other chemical pollutant, driving permanent brain damage and cardiovascular disease. Mercury, especially as methylmercury, also causes lasting neurological damage, among other negative impacts. Together, these toxic metals fuel intergenerational harm, undermining health, learning, and economic progress across populations.
Our Strategic Plan: Focusing on Lead and Mercury Pollution Through 2030
In 2020, Pure Earth unveiled a new strategic direction to target our efforts on lead and mercury pollution and increase our impact. Our teams have piloted multiple approaches, built extensive networks and have accumulated much experience in how to cleanup and prevent further exposures to toxins with limited resources/in resource-constrained environments. In 2023, we updated the frameworks for our two major program areas.
Strategic Framework for Lead
Lead poisoning affects 1 in 3 children, around 800 million globally. This is mass poisoning on a previously unknown scale. 90% of children with high lead levels are in low- and middle-income countries. The goal of Pure Earth’s Global Lead Program is to measurably and sustainably reduce lead pollution and poisoning in countries where we work, and to encourage and enable increased action by other stakeholders in the global health and development sphere.
Strategic Framework for Mercury
Mercury is a toxic heavy metal and one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern, according to the World Health Organization. Pure Earth estimates that 19 million people are at risk for exposure to mercury globally. Pure Earth’s Global Mercury Program strategy focuses on decreasing mercury emissions to the environment from the main source of pollution- artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM)—and reducing human exposures with an emphasis on the most severely affected populations, namely miners and surrounding communities.
Global Lead Program
Pure Earth’s Global Lead Program aims to prevent and reduce lead poisoning in low- and middle-income countries by removing lead contamination sources and/or by reducing human exposure to them. We achieve this through pragmatic interventions that generate data and knowledge, improve regulatory frameworks, remediate lead hazards, improve the environmental performance of industry, facilitate the adoption of lead substitutes in production processes (e.g., pottery glaze), and increase resources to address lead pollution.
Global Mercury Program
Pure Earth’s Global Mercury Program strategy focuses on decreasing mercury emissions to the environment from the main source of pollution- artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM)—and reducing human exposures with an emphasis on the most severely affected populations, namely miners and surrounding communities. This is achieved by training legal artisanal and small-scale gold miners on mercury-free mining techniques, restoring degraded mining sites, engaging the jewelry industry, and promoting the recovery and responsible management of mercury from contaminated artisanal gold mining tailings.
How Pure Earth Prioritizes Locations
Pure Earth selects the locations in which we work using two main criteria: Impact Potential and Tractability. For lead, Impact Potential considers quantitative factors such as the number of children affected by elevated blood lead levels, the prevalence (%) of children affected, and the average severity of exposure. For mercury, such data are less available, so the Impact Potential considers the total estimated tonnage of mercury used and released from artisanal and small-scale gold mining as a proxy for exposure data.
Tractability assesses qualitative feasibility factors such as government commitment and readiness; local partner capacity to implement and sustain interventions; safety of staff and collaborators; operational feasibility factors such as specialized equipment availability, local skills, stable governance, rule of law, transportation access, and operational costs; and socioeconomic context. Pure Earth is also responsive to donor interests and often works with our donors to align project locations with our mutual interests and priorities.