{"text":[[{"start":6.75,"text":"Millions of schoolchildren in lower- and middle-income countries are being placed at risk from lead pollution from battery recycling, threatening their health and cognitive development, a new analysis has shown."}],[{"start":19.45,"text":"Over 252,000 schools educating more than 43mn children in 17 countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America are located within 5km of toxic sites, according to a study using geocoding by the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank. That includes 5.2mn children within 1km. "}],[{"start":40.8,"text":"The findings come at a time of growing focus on the effects of lead on human health and development, which is increasingly viewed as a contributor to low levels of educational attainment in children and is estimated to cost countries $1.4tn in economic potential."}],[{"start":56.05,"text":"While richer countries have long acted to reduce lead contamination in petrol, paint and foodstuffs, poorer ones have taken far less action. One estimate suggests a third of elevated lead exposures in lower- and middle-income countries are caused by recycling batteries — including those used in electric vehicles, rickshaws and solar panels. "}],[{"start":78.3,"text":"Research in Mexico and Kenya has shown significantly lower high school performance among children exposed to lead from recycling plants."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":86.75,"text":"Abdullah Fadil, director of the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, based at Unicef in New York, said: “We know lead poisoning has an impact on cognitive development. This is probably the most neglected issue that contributes,” to poor educational outcomes."}],[{"start":101.6,"text":"More than 30 countries have signed up to a global framework to track progress in tackling lead. However, Fadil said that the closure last year of US Aid, the US official aid agency, and reluctance by other existing international agencies to take on new initiatives were hampering progress."}],[{"start":120.55,"text":"The CGD this month hosted a conference in London on research on global lead exposure, which highlighted other sources of contamination including in food, cookware, cosmetics, paint and piping."}],[{"start":134.1,"text":"Its new study does not track the precise connection between lead in the environment and the levels absorbed by students, but builds on past work showing that aerial dispersion of lead from dismantling old batteries and smelting the recovered lead can be hazardous in a 5km radius."}],[{"start":150.79999999999998,"text":"Lee Crawfurd, who conducted the study, stressed the link to human exposure was still not well understood, and there was a need for more testing of children in schools close to recycling plants. But he added: “Moving recycling plants out of cities would be a good first step, to move the industry away from people.”"}],[{"start":167.85,"text":"In the US and in other richer nations, lead exposure has been greatest in disadvantaged and poorer communities, but the study shows that in lower-income countries fee-paying schools are disproportionately close to contamination sources, reflecting rapid urbanisation and the absence of zoning."}],[{"start":194.45,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781482327_3744.mp3"}