Battery boom fuels lead poisoning crisis in Bangladesh: Video
A surge in informal battery recycling is driving a public health crisis in Bangladesh, where millions of children are suffering from toxic lead exposure.
Twelve-year-old Junayed Akter bears the brunt of the epidemic. Despite his age, his growth has been severely stunted — a result, doctors say, of dangerously high levels of lead in his bloodstream, the AFP reports.
His case is far from isolated: an estimated 35 million children, or around 60% of all children in the country, are affected by elevated lead exposure.
The sources of contamination are varied, but Junayed’s mother points to a now-defunct battery recycling factory near their village. The facility, which dismantled and melted down old vehicle batteries with little regulation, polluted the surrounding air and soil in its rush for profit.
As informal battery recycling continues to grow in response to global demand for energy storage, communities across Bangladesh are sounding the alarm over the hidden cost: a silent epidemic harming the country's most vulnerable.
