Healthcare (Commonwealth Union) – In spite the fact that the world being able to phase out leaded gasoline, lead pollution continues to pose serious health risks and deepen inequality, with low- and middle-income countries suffering the most.
Once believed to be largely a problem of the past, lead poisoning was thought to have been eliminated when the final phase-out of leaded fuel for vehicles occurred in 2021. The accumulation of lead in the human body can lead to serious health hazards.
A new international study led by Dr. Chen Mengli, a Research Fellow at the Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore (NUS), together with researchers from Imperial College London, the University of Warwick, the University of Oxford, Jadavpur University, the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Bristol, concludes otherwise. The team found that lead exposure continues to pose a major public health and economic burden in the modern era. Their analysis estimates that ongoing childhood exposure to lead costs the global economy over US$3.4 trillion in lost productivity every year, with the greatest losses occurring in low- and middle-income nations.
Published in Communications Earth & Environment on 30 September 2025, the study warns that, without stronger protections, rising demand for electrification and the unregulated recycling of lead-based materials could reinforce global inequalities and reverse years of progress in child health. To counter this, the researchers recommend a four-part strategy for governments and industries to implement immediately.
Researchers of the study pointed out that for thousands of years, lead has been intertwined with human civilization — from the water pipes of ancient Rome to the paints, plumbing, and industrial alloys that remain in use today. Its extensive application has left behind a toxic legacy. Some of the earliest large-scale poisonings were traced to contaminated food and drink in Europe centuries ago. Yet the most significant wave of contamination emerged with the introduction of tetraethyl lead in gasoline during the 1920s, releasing millions of tonnes of lead into the atmosphere over the decades that followed.
By the 1970s, children around the world had dangerously high concentrations of lead in their blood, leading to neurological harm, stunted development, and countless early deaths. The global phase-out of leaded gasoline—completed only in 2021—was celebrated as a major triumph for public health. It proved that strong, coordinated international efforts could dramatically reduce exposure and save lives.
Still, the researchers cautioned that the optimism surrounding a “lead-free” world was misplaced. While lead levels declined sharply in many wealthier nations, they stagnated or even rose again across parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Persistent contamination from soil and aging infrastructure, coal burning, lead-based paints, and the informal recycling of lead-acid batteries and electronic waste continues to keep the danger very much alive.
“The perception that the problem was solved has to change. New sources of exposure continue to emerge and the historical emitted lead keeps redistributing through various natural processes,” said Dr Chen, who is from the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at NUS as well.
Global lead production now surpasses 16 million tonnes annually, with around 85 per cent used to manufacture lead–acid batteries that power vehicles, telecommunications systems, and backup energy networks. Each year’s output exceeds the total amount of lead released during the entire period when leaded gasoline was in use.
Although lead-based products are recyclable, much of the recycling happens in unsafe environments—especially in low- and middle-income nations. Informal recycling operations, often situated near residential areas and schools, expose both workers and local communities to dangerously high levels of lead. Additional sources of contamination, such as coal burning, polluted soils, and the continued sale of lead-containing paints, toys, and even food, worsen the situation.
