Pure Earth

In 2017, Pure Earth President Richard Fuller and Dr. Philip Landrigan, serving as co-chairs of the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, issued an open letter, and presided over the release of the landmark report from the Commission, which confirmed that pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world today—causing 3x more deaths than HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined, and 15x more deaths than wars and all forms of violence.[4]

The report's findings made headlines around the world. The Washington Post's editorial concluded that "The Lancet study should remind leaders in the United States and elsewhere that, though there are costs associated with restricting pollution, countries also incur costs by failing to do so." Fareed Zakaria issued a passionate commentary about pollution's deadly global impact.

The Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health is an initiative of The Lancet, the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution (for which Pure Earth serves as Secretariat), and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, with additional coordination and input from United Nations Environment, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the World Bank.

Pure Earth's Toxic Site Identification Program (TSIP) works to identify and screen contaminated sites in low- and middle-income countries where public health is at risk. Pure Earth has trained more than 400 toxic sites investigators around the world to find, map and assess polluted sites that pose health risks in their communities. To date, TSIP investigators have identified more than 3,100 sites in over 50 countries. These sites alone represent a potential health risk to more than 80 million poor people.

The data collected by TSIP investigators is entered into Pure Earth's database of polluted sites, the largest database of its kind. This information is made accessible to governments so that they can formulate plans to prioritize action on pollution that poses the most risk to populations.

The public can view the data at pollution.org

In July 2012, Pure Earth convened a third meeting of world leaders[5] and experts on pollution at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center in Italy. The Global Alliance on Health and Pollution was formed that year by Pure Earth, the World Bank, UNEP, UNDP, UNIDO, Asian Development Bank, the European Commission, Ministries of Environment and Health of many low- and middle-income countries to address pollution and health at scale. Blacksmith serves as Secretariat for the GAHP. Blacksmith began coordinating an international effort to create a global alliance in 2008. The effort was formerly called the Health and Pollution Fund.[6][7][8]

Published by Pure Earth, the Journal of Health and Pollution (JH&P) is a quarterly on-line journal of peer reviewed research and news. JH&P is grant funded by the World Bank and the European Union. There are no charges to readers or authors. JH&P aims to facilitate discussion of toxic pollution, impacts to human health and strategies for site remediation. The journal focuses on work by researchers from or about under-represented low- and middle-income countries.

• Mexico: Barro Aprobado - Research shows nearly half the children in Mexico are impacted by lead poisoning from traditional pottery glazed with lead that is used in many homes and restaurants in Mexico. The Barro Aprobado project is raising public awareness about the dangers of leaded pottery, and promoting the use and production of lead-free pottery.
• Azerbaijan: Cleanup of infamous pesticide site in Salyan.
• Zambia: Lead remediation in Kabwe, sometimes called the world's most toxic town.[9]
• Mongolia: Training artisanal miners to go mercury free. Over 1000 miners have been trained to date.
• Ukraine – Cleanup of former Soviet arms site, filled with highly toxin chemicals and explosives, as chronicled in Bloomberg Businessweek [10]
• Nigeria: In 2011, Pure Earth received a Green Star Award for emergency work during the Nigeria lead poisoning crisis in Zamfara .[11]
• Armenia: Cleanup of 10th century historical site.

Pure Earth was founded as the Blacksmith Institute in 1999.

In 2014, Blacksmith launched a new initiative – Blacksmith Institute for a Pure Earth – with English actor Dev Patel as celebrity ambassador.[13] Patel worked closely with Blacksmith to suggest the new name, and will help support efforts to raise awareness about toxic pollution, an issue he says he first grew aware of after filming in India.[14] Blacksmith will slowly transition to a new name – Pure Earth – with the aim of broadening awareness of global toxic pollution issues to the general public.

For over a decade, Pure Earth's World’s Worst Pollution Problems reports identified and drew attention to the worst, and most dangerously polluted places on the planet, while documenting and quantifying the startling health and environmental impacts of this neglected problem. The series of reports succeeded in raising global awareness about the extent and impacts of toxic pollution in low- and middle-income countries. All reports are archived at http://worstpolluted.org

• Official website
• World's Worst Polluted Places Reports