Aga Khan University’s Dr Zafar Fatmi has co-authored a new paper published in the Lancet Planetary Health, highlighting the urgent need to eliminate lead from the global economy.
The study, led by Stanford University and co-authored by experts from renowned institutions including AKU, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, University of Southern California, and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, presents compelling evidence for a swift global phaseout of lead.
“Why do we allow trillions of dollars of damage to human health, entire ecosystems, and the global economy to accrue for the sake of $100 billion in benefits?” asks Dr Fatmi, Section Head of Environmental, Occupational Health, and Climate Change at AKU’s Community Health Sciences. The authors argue that despite its limited economic value, lead’s impact on health, productivity, and ecosystems is staggering, affecting life expectancy, cognitive development, and environmental health worldwide.
The paper reveals that 5.2 million tons of lead entered the environment in 2022 alone, largely driven by demand for low-cost lead-acid batteries.
Lead pollution endangers ecosystems and harms organisms across the food chain, from plants and animals to humans, contributing to 5.5 million premature deaths annually from cardiovascular disease and resulting in 765 million lost IQ points among children. Beyond health impacts, lead is responsible for significant losses in productivity due to its neurotoxic effects, including reduced brain function, cognitive impairment
