Battery boom drives Bangladesh lead poisoning epidemic

Battery Boom Drives Bangladesh Lead Poisoning Epidemic

More than four million rickshaws are found on Bangladeshi roads and authorities estimate the market for fitting them all with electric motors and batteries at around $870 million.

A seven-year-old from Aubiac saw his life swing after being contaminated with a bacterium. The origin of his poisoning: waste and polluted water from his neighbours, including the sanitation system...

Bangladesh continues promotion of biodegradable bags amid battle against polythene

On a busy morning in November 2024, a dramatic scene unfolded in a supermarket in Banani, Dhaka. Government officials, armed with security personnel, launched a joint operation to crack down on the widespread use of plastic bags. As the supermarket employees wrapped goods in the familiar crinkling plastic, officers moved in, ready to seize the items. A clash of voices filled the air. Employees and customers alike protested, arguing that the alte…

Battery boom drives Bangladesh lead poisoning epidemic

Bangladeshi Junayed Akter is 12 years old but the toxic lead coursing through his veins has left him with the diminutive stature of someone several years younger.

Mirzapur, Bangladesh. Junayed Akter is 12 years old, but the toxic lead running through his veins caused his stature to be that of someone several years younger, like most children in his village in Bangladesh. Akter is one of the 35 million children - about 60% of all children in this South Asian country - who have dangerously high levels of exposure to lead. The causes are diverse, but his mother blamed her ills on a factory, already shut down…

Lead, an invisible scourge, decimates the health of children and ravages the environment, while the authorities struggle to stem this major health crisis. At the heart of Bangladeshi countryside, thousands of children suffer the consequences of massive lead poisoning. Junayed, 12, is one of its faces. His physical and intellectual development is seriously altered, [...] Article Bangladesh: A generation sacrificed on the altar of wild recycling a…