By BSS
Speakers at a seminar here called for coordinated actions to implement Bangladesh’s national strategy for a lead-free country, highlighting the need for environmental monitoring, safer industrial practices, site remediation and stronger public health responses.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Department of Environment (DoE), in collaboration with Pure Earth Bangladesh, organized the seminar, titled “Advancing to a Lead-Free Bangladesh: Scaling Solutions, Driving Youth Action,” yesterday (Wednesday) marking the 14th International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week.
The event followed this year’s global theme, “From Detection to Prevention,” said a press release.
Addressing the event as the chief guest, Abdul Awal Mintoo, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, said the priorities in the National Strategy and Multi-Year Action Plan for a Lead-Free Bangladesh 2026-2035 need to be reflected in funded work plans, capable institutions and measurable results.
“This requires sustained investment in testing facilities and laboratories, environmental monitoring, site remediation, safer industrial practices and public health responses. We also need financial and technical support from development partners and international institutions, as well as commitment from the private sector, in line with the national strategy. Specialist expertise, technology transfer, training and research collaboration, including the existing collaboration with Pure Earth, are also important. Such support should strengthen national institutions and help establish systems that can be sustained over the long term,” he said.
The Cabinet approved the national strategy on August 17, setting targets to reduce the proportion of children with elevated blood lead levels by 50 percent by 2030 and 95 percent by 2035.
Mitali Das, Country Director of Pure Earth Bangladesh, said the organization is working with the Ministry, the Department of Environment and relevant stakeholders to advance an Extended Producer Responsibility directive for lead-acid batteries, supporting better collection, traceability and environmentally sound recycling.
“Informal lead recycling is not good business when its profits come at the expense of children’s health, government revenue and the environment. The wider economic burden is even more alarming. Global research estimates that lead exposure cost Bangladesh approximately?US$28.6 billion in health-related economic losses in 2019 – equivalent to 6-9% of GDP,” she said.
Mohammed Solaiman Haider, Additional Director General, Department of Environment, said the department was developing standard operating procedures and technical documents for the lead-acid battery industry to guide inspection, monitoring, pollution control and environmental compliance.
He also said a technical working group had recently been formed under the DoE to establish permissible limits for lead in soil.
Dr Quazi Ahmed Zaki, Director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), called for stronger public health procedures to investigate and respond to lead exposure, noting that harm could occur before symptoms became apparent.
In his keynote presentation, Aftab Uz Zaman Khan, Senior Program Manager at Pure Earth Bangladesh, outlined the organization’s interventions to support the strategy and presented findings from its lead-remediation initiative at SSR School in Labanchora, Khulna.
Preliminary results from endline testing in September 2026 showed a 17.5 percent reduction in median blood lead levels among 111 participants tested both before and after the intervention. The median fell from 5.32 micrograms per deciliter at baseline in 2025 to 4.39 micrograms per deciliter.
The seminar also highlighted youth-led efforts to prevent lead pollution. Sheikh Sajidul Islam of the Islamic University of Technology, a joint winner of the “Local Action for Lead-Free Communities: Youth-Led Solutions” competition, presented his poster, “Surjo Garage: Turning Dhaka’s Dead E-rickshaw Batteries into a Lead-Free Switch.”
Winners of that competition and the “Art for a Lead-Free Tomorrow” competition received awards from the guests. The event also marked the launch of the National Youth Alliance for a Lead-Free Bangladesh, a platform to mobilize young people in lead prevention, advocacy and awareness.
At the event, Pure Earth Bangladesh handed over two portable X-ray fluorescence analyzers to the DoE. The devices can measure lead and other heavy metals on solid surfaces, providing rapid test results to support environmental monitoring and enforcement.
Mohammad Navid Safiullah, Additional Secretary of the MoEFCC, chaired the event. In his closing remarks, he said the government’s partnership with Pure Earth provided a framework for technical collaboration on lead pollution prevention.
“The research, technical initiatives and youth participation presented today should feed into the wider implementation process. Their value will grow when lessons are shared with the institutions responsible for acting on them,” he said.
More than 100 people from government agencies, UN bodies, development partners, academia, civil society, the private sector, youth organizations and the media attended the seminar.
