Lead poisoning robs the world’s kids of millions of IQ points a day and kills more people than wars, natural disasters and road accidents combined — yet we treat it as a problem we’ve already solved. Drew McCartor, who runs the nonprofit Pure Earth, has spent nearly two decades proving it doesn’t have to be this way. He presents their three-step fix that’s already working in places from Georgia to Ghana, and makes the case that we can finally beat a crisis hiding in plain sight. (This ambitious idea is part of The Audacious Project, TED’s initiative to inspire and fund global change.) (Recorded at TED2026 on April 14, 2026)
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@davaguco
July 23, 2026 at 11:03 am
Very important matter
@syedghazanfaralihashmi1208
July 23, 2026 at 11:20 am
Really shocking as well as thought provoking.
@khunjulwambana2934
July 23, 2026 at 11:21 am
didn’t know I still had that, you remember when you were so passionate that you could almost grasp it. Great awareness Ted.
@oclock1983
July 23, 2026 at 11:28 am
What is the source of lead?
@fburton8
July 23, 2026 at 12:44 pm
In terms of harmful exposure? See 6:29
Or did you mean where does lead come from? Stellar nucleosynthesis (inside aging stars) apparently.
@ExistentialWolf
July 23, 2026 at 11:30 am
Education is the real problem. Learn to read before you spread. It’s easy to point, so lets all. 😀
@alexandracrawford800
July 23, 2026 at 11:49 am
There MUST BE A RECOVERY. GIVE UP ON SAEEM? ON ALL CHILDREN WE HAVE POISONED? JAPAN HAS ISOLATED THE GROWTH FACTOR RESPONSIBLE FOR BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH… DENDRITIC PROCESSES… STEM CELLS ARE AVAILABLE FOR BRAIN TISSUE REPAIR, BRAIN PLASTICITY AND STIMULATION IS WELL ADVANCED AND PRACTISED. NOW WORK ON THE SOLUTION SINCE THE BRAIN IS 450 MILLION YEARS OLD AND WE ARE ALL TEMPORARY TENANTS. EVOLUTION IS TAKING PLACE WITHIN YOU EVERY DAY, A CHANGE THAT PROVES MORE EFFECTIVE IN RESOURCE UTILISATION IS IMMEDIATELY ACCESSIBLE TO YOUR OFFSPRING. BUT TO GIVE UP – UTTERLY UNTHINKABLE… IT IS TO GIVE UP ON LIFE ITSELF TO BETRAY 450 MILLION YEARS OF PAST EXPERIENCE. TO BETRAY AND CONDEMN EVERY CHILD WHO’S POTENTIAL HAS BEEN STOLEN….
@FaltuUser-g4n8r
July 23, 2026 at 11:53 am
I was the 911th view 😅
@chuckhayes
July 23, 2026 at 7:03 pm
Reminds me of that tragedy
@FaltuUser-g4n8r
July 24, 2026 at 12:05 am
@chuckhayeswhenever i see this number it reminds me that tragedy too
@jejejejejesss
July 23, 2026 at 12:55 pm
For folks in America who think you are not affected, a 2022 PNAS study found that HALF of the US population was exposed to adverse lead levels in early childhood
That’s up to 170 million Americans alive today
@QuietLife1234
July 23, 2026 at 1:18 pm
This man deserves all of the praise in the world.
@michael_pilot
July 23, 2026 at 1:48 pm
That is why lead pipes in France were replaced on a massive scale a few decades ago. And there was a ban on lead-based paint in the 1940s. And a ban on lead-based anti-rust products over 30 years ago.
@fburton8
July 23, 2026 at 2:04 pm
We had lead plumbing (ha!) in the house in Scotland where I grew up. That was completely replaced towards the end of the 60s with copper. I thought the water coming through the old pipes tasted better (it was sweeter). I do wonder if I lost IQ points as a result.
@yellowrose13
July 23, 2026 at 1:51 pm
At the 12 month well child doctor appointment they check kids for lead levels.
@Avarice7D
July 23, 2026 at 1:52 pm
09:24 I don’t think that was a joke. It was a scary true statement. I believe this is a good cause and definitely one that needs support. THIS IS TED. Welcome back. 🙂
@elishaminor2900
July 23, 2026 at 2:39 pm
Interesting analogy of said brain of a child. I could only image how hard it is for them to remember each other child they were friend or enter acted with as a second grader. Yet if you change school this may be a new experience for said child now the brain is or possibility working in hyper over drive. Because most children that age are full of energy. Third grade is that point where you realize two years to go and you’re on a new level of number muncher.
@ibringthereals
July 23, 2026 at 3:27 pm
Tell them how Bill Clinton stopped the law and regulations that would have prevented massive numbers of lead poisoning in the United States, decades ago by creating an industry to find and stop it. Way back in 1996, before soy baby here discovered the lead paint poisoning prevention industry in 2001. It was a $600 billion real estate problem back then. And old Bill just kicked the can up the street to drone king Barry Obama’s keister. Zero done for inspecting lead lead base paint and soil contaminated sites. They find hazards in baby teeth, and by blood testing poor children on Medicare.
Clinton gave every real estate contract an exemption from lead inspections because he was lobbied hard, took the cash, and is a complete scumbag. Buyer beware. Buy this building at your own risk type shyt.
Democrats are lying ghouls. Both parties are run by ghouls.
@liann3881
July 23, 2026 at 3:56 pm
@ibringthereals do not generalize Bill’s errors to the entire Dem party. Right now, blue is the only option. The current govt is corrupt and out to get us. Us being we everyday citizens trying to get along while billionaires control the country. It’s billionaires vs the rest of us. I hope the rest of us, is all of us. Red and blue. All vote against the billionaires.
@GerardoBaeza-x9g
July 23, 2026 at 6:10 pm
Arigato kozimas
@ShawnLH88
July 23, 2026 at 6:53 pm
Remember maga embraces poisoning your food and water and earth. They don’t care about lead hurting us
@chuckhayes
July 23, 2026 at 6:58 pm
@ShawnLH88 interesting. Where did you see that?
@RabbiAhmed-h8b
July 24, 2026 at 6:09 am
His from Bangladesh..?
@LoggedOutTimer-m9v
July 24, 2026 at 6:35 am
Gemini LLM:
This report summarizes the TED Talk by Drew McCartor regarding the global crisis of lead poisoning.
1. The Hidden Scale of the Crisis (0:03 – 5:24)
The Impact: Lead poisoning is not just a problem of the past; it is currently robbing children of over 2 million IQ points every day (0:23 – 0:46).
Health Consequences: Beyond cognitive impairment, lead exposure causes significant cardiovascular disease, leading to heart attacks and strokes. In 2023, lead exposure contributed to more deaths globally than active wars, natural disasters, road accidents, HIV, and malaria combined (0:53 – 1:22).
The Mechanism: McCartor explains that a child’s brain is like a city under construction. Calcium acts as a city planner for neural development, but lead masquerades as calcium, forcing the brain to build “chaotic networks” and “dead-end streets” that cause permanent damage (3:12 – 3:50).
Global Reach: More than 1 billion children—one in three globally—have blood lead levels exceeding the World Health Organization’s intervention threshold, primarily in low- and middle-income countries (3:55 – 4:29).
2. A Three-Step Solution (5:24 – 7:19)
McCartor argues that this crisis is solvable with existing technology and resources. The Pure Earth model involves three core steps for governments:
1. Nationally Representative Surveys: Testing blood samples from thousands of children to establish a baseline and motivate policy action (6:06 – 6:28).
2. Source Identification: Investigating local environmental drivers, which vary by region and can include contaminated spices, traditional medicines, cosmetics, ceramic glazes, or industrial waste (6:28 – 6:56).
3. Regulation and Remediation: Tightening safety standards, enforcing regulations, and cleaning up contaminated sites (6:56 – 7:10).
3. Proven Results and Future Outlook (7:20 – 9:46)
Success in Georgia: Following a 2018 survey that found 41% of children exceeded the safety threshold, the government identified contaminated spices as the source. By tightening regulations, they successfully reduced lead levels by 75% in the hardest-hit regions (7:20 – 8:02).
Global Scaling: Pure Earth has provided support for surveys and source identification in countries like the Philippines, Ghana, and Mexico (8:06 – 8:25).
The Audacious Goal: With funding from The Audacious Project, McCartor plans to implement this three-step model in over 20 countries, aiming to protect 500 million children over the next eight years (8:47 – 9:15).
@jorgeeporgee
July 24, 2026 at 7:48 am
don’t cry in despair for the future sir, just tell us what you need
@joshfactor1
July 24, 2026 at 11:42 am
why tf are three ad breaks on a nine-minute video?
@arfatul_Islam07
July 24, 2026 at 3:54 pm
Thank you, Drew McCartor and Pure Earth, for shedding light on this silent crisis. As someone from Bangladesh, I truly appreciate your team’s dedication to cleaning up lead pollution and protecting our children’s futures. Hearing about the impact on kids like Saim is deeply moving, and it gives me hope to see such a clear, actionable plan to tackle this issue globally. Keep up the vital work!
@Al-MeqdadYaseen-s3y
July 24, 2026 at 4:54 pm
I didn’t know such an issue exists! Thanks for informing us.
@user255
July 24, 2026 at 6:05 pm
This is how you get the uneducated Trump loves.
@Fonsoknows33
July 24, 2026 at 6:55 pm
“My grandparents were filled w asbestos my parents were filled with lead and I am filled with microplastics” some meme online
@Wiled-r2h
July 24, 2026 at 10:35 pm
Adding IQ points of different people is like adding their body temperatures in degrees °C.
Pro tip: if you change your unit of measurement, then you’ll sound even more sensational, even more urgent!
@MandatedReporter
July 24, 2026 at 10:56 pm
May God shine the light in the dark. I pray he rebukes every single person who works against others.
@oguretsagressive
July 25, 2026 at 6:08 am
2 major lead poisoning sources today – car batteries and bullets. Someone please do something about that 🥲
@LieveLeysen-Discover-
July 25, 2026 at 7:31 am
🙏🏻💖🙏🏻
@giorgiobarchiesi5003
July 25, 2026 at 11:58 am
Great great video, so moving and so motivating! 🙏
@Orthodoxi
July 25, 2026 at 1:21 pm
Sounds planned…
@ShafiqAhmad-xd5jf
July 25, 2026 at 3:08 pm
Very Important topic. Good job highlighting it..
@smajliiicka
July 25, 2026 at 6:26 pm
May corporate greed die with the end of this year.
@terrahillman151
July 25, 2026 at 8:40 pm
So refreshing to hear a Ted Talk not scripted w AI ❤🎉👏🏼
@kaczynski2333
July 25, 2026 at 8:48 pm
Cool. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.