NEW YORK, NY (Feb. 13, 2020) — The international environmental nonprofit Pure Earth, which is devoted to addressing global pollution issues, has assessed over 5,000 toxic hotspots across low- and middle-income countries in the past decade. With over 400 trained investigators worldwide, Pure Earth has amassed the largest global dataset of polluted sites threatening the health of children in 50 countries. Referred to as TSIP – Toxic Sites Identification Program – this unique dataset is now available to the public at www.contaminatedsites.org along with an API allowing other institutions to ingest and work with the data.

“By making this information available to researchers around the world, we hope to spark more research in the area of public health and pollution control, and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration to seek cost-effective solutions at a faster pace,” says Richard Fuller, President of Pure Earth.

At www.contaminatedsites.org, users can search by location, key pollutant and industrial source.   Users can determine if Pure Earth has investigated toxic hotspots in their community or region, and if lead, mercury, pesticides, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, or other toxicants are threatening community health.

Prior to launching this public site and the API, the TSIP database was available to governments and international institutions working on pollution issues. The data in TSIP was referenced in the seminal Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health. Along with Global Burden of Disease data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, it is a tool used by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution to help countries understand the disease burden from pollution in their countries and formulate a response through the Health and Pollution Action Planning process.

The TSIP program is coordinated by Pure Earth and funded by the European Commission, UNIDO, The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, USAID and others.

Contact: Magdalene Sim, [email protected]