Lead poisoning threatens public health

The UNICEF and other international bodies concerned about public health hazards caused by lead poisoning estimate that 800 million children globally have blood lead levels at above 5.0 microgram per decilitre. Worryingly, there is no safe level of lead in blood. So, the only way to avoid the danger of lead poisoning is to remove the sources of lead pollution. Bangladesh ranks fourth globally with over 36 million children dangerously affected by lead pollution.  According to an AFP report published last April, 36 million children in Bangladesh are affected with elevated lead levels in their blood. Now the source of lead contamination is the Lead-Acid Battery (LAB) recycling units in the informal sector. The problem with the locally produced LAB is that unlike the foreign-made ones they are not fully recyclable. 

Millions of the discarded LABs from autorickshaws, easy bikes and various other modes of transport are polluting the environment everywhere in the country, thanks to lax regulatory oversight. According to the private organisation styled Battery-run Easy bike and Rickshaw Drivers' Movement Council, as reported in the June 25 issue of this paper, there are about 2.5 million such LAB-run vehicles operating in the capital city alone. Nationwide their number is around 5.0 million, the report adds. Another one million autorickshaws and easy bikes have been added to the existing ones with the interim government assuming office in the wake of the July uprising of 2024.  In that case, the LABs, some 20 million in number,   are currently in use in those battery-operated vehicles. If this estimate of the LAB number is correct, one can easily imagine the danger to the environment and public health they would pose once discarded after use. 

Obviously, to have correct estimate of LAB being used currently and those already thrown away or to be done so soon will require a formal, that is, official approach to the issue. The knowledge of exactly how many of such LABs are accumulating in the city's drains, sewage networks, lakes, canals and rivers is vital for assessing the scale of the pollution and hazard to public health they pose. Lead in these used LABs dumped in the surroundings of cities as well as of the countryside are entering the food chain from the lead-polluted crop fields and aquatic life exposed to it. Since the sources of pollution of the country's environment are already too many to count, another hazardous one added to it may prove to be the last straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.  But what is the way out of this environmental and public health crisis? 

Since it is already too late to rid the country of the modes of transport operated by the LABs, the best option would be to create an appropriate body and the required tools to quantitatively assess the growth of the sector. The only way to do that is to take the entire LAB-run transport sector under government control through a body dedicated to the purpose. The ministry of environment can take the responsibility and introduce regulations to ensure compliance of those manufacturing the LABs and establish at least some reasonable order in the sector. Since the LAB-run transports are a source of livelihood of millions of families across the country formalising the sector is one way of keeping tabs on its development.