Follow Pure Earth on social media
Join our email list
Join our community of thousands helping to solve pollution
Don’t miss a story of our transformative work protecting children from toxic pollution.
Donate to be part of the solution
Invest in Our Cost-Effective Solutions to Prevent Lead Exposure
-
Our work also protects and amplifies investments in education, early childhood development, maternal and reproductive health.
-
Learn more about the investment and impact opportunities.
Please contact the Development Team for assistance or more information: [email protected] or (212) 870-3490
Why Lead?
An estimated one billion children worldwide have blood lead levels above the WHO threshold for medical intervention. Almost all of them live in low- and middle-income countries, where the average child is exposed to enough lead to lose an estimated four to five IQ points permanently. That loss is sufficient to shift an entire nation’s intelligence curve downward, cutting in half the number of gifted children and increasing the number with intellectual disability by half. This IQ loss, combined with the 3.5 million premature deaths caused by lead each year, results in an estimated annual cost of $6 trillion. Stealing the potential of one child is a tragedy; doing it to a billion children sabotages the trajectory of entire nations and robs a generation of its intellectual capital.
We prioritize lead poisoning not only because its toll is immense, but also because it is solvable today, with the tools we already have. It doesn’t require new technologies or the reordering of global economies. It just requires our will to act. And the benefits are enormous. By preventing lead exposure, our work improves health, educational outcomes, and economic development. Children can reach their full cognitive and emotional potential, and societies are better equipped to solve the next set of challenges they face.
Inside Pure Earth’s Audacious Plan to Scale Lead Poisoning Prevention
Drew was invited to speak at TED because Pure Earth was named a 2025 Audacious Project finalist and received strong backing from this donor community. Housed at TED, The Audacious Project is a collaborative funding initiative dedicated to supporting bold ideas with the potential to change the world. With support from Audacious funders, Pure Earth will scale protection across more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, representing over half the global burden of childhood lead poisoning. Visit the project page Pure Earth SCALE Initiative to learn more.
Stories from the Field: Hear Pure Earth's Impact Directly From Communities
Learn more
How lead poisoning is stealing kids’ IQ, why 2026 might be the best year for novels — and more | TED Conference, LinkedIn
Podcasts
- Apple Podcasts | TED Talks Daily
- Amazon | TED Talks Daily