THE latest national survey revealing widespread lead contamination in Bangladesh is gravely concerning. The joint survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, based on data from 63,000 households, reported that four in every ten children aged between 12 and 59 months have blood lead levels exceeding the internationally accepted safety threshold. Earlier in August, a study by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, conducted on 500 children under four between 2022 and 2024, found lead in the blood samples of all the children, with 98 per cent having more than 35 micrograms of lead per litre. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention sets 35 micrograms per litre as the highest tolerable level of lead in humans, but in Bangladesh, levels as high as 356 micrograms per litre have been detected. Lead is responsible for 138,054 cardiovascular deaths every year in Bangladesh, and the combined cost of lead exposure is estimated at $28.63 billion. In addition, Bangladesh is the fourth most lead-impacted country, with 36 million cases. Despite a government pledge to eliminate lead exposure and achieve a 鈥榣ead-free future鈥� by 2040, the reality on the ground shows an escalating crisis.
The sources of lead exposure and lead contamination are identified, and they include rapid industrial and urban growth, unchecked marketing of adulterated food and unsafe management of electronic waste. Urban residents face disproportionate risk. Rapid industrialisation has created dense clusters of factories, informal recycling yards, construction sites and dumping grounds within residential neighbourhoods. Air, soil and water contamination from these sites exposes entire communities, not just children. Adults inhale contaminated dust, consume polluted food and use cookware, paints and cosmetics tainted with heavy metals. In 2019, a survey by the National Food Safety Laboratory found excessive levels of lead in raw cow milk and cattle fodder. E-waste causes severe lead soil contamination through informal recycling, dumping and leachate, with some soil lead levels reaching 587 ppm, far above the World Health Organisation limit. Without effective environmental monitoring and product standards, even middle-class households cannot be sure their daily essentials are safe. While children are the most visibly affected, the crisis extends far beyond childhood health. Lead poisoning is now a national emergency with economic, social and public-health consequences that will haunt the country for generations unless the government acts decisively.
The public health burden of lead pollution is common knowledge. The government should, under the circumstances, consider the situation as a health emergency and consider the public health and environmental advocates鈥� demand for a complete and immediate ban on all forms of lead use in consumer and industrial products. The government should also ensure a safe recycling of e-waste and ensure shutdown of informal recycling sites.