Editorial

The LEAD Group is pleased to say that our recently launched website, ‘Lead Safe World’ (www.leadsafeworld.com), has been successful in providing an outlet for those who are environmentally conscious and health conscious to seek information about lead and provide a database of Solutions that deals with various areas of lead education such as detection, abatement, management, disposal etc. Our Solutions page (http://www.leadsafeworld.com/solutions/) is an ever-growing wellspring of information regarding the aforementioned topics as well as the go-to place for practical advice about health and nutrition.

The Lead Safe World website promotes lead safety actions everyone can take, anywhere in the world, rather than being a broad-ranging archive of information about the history of lead, the health effects of lead, sources of lead contamination, etc., as our existing web site is (www.lead.org.au).

We have continued to add to the Partners section ( http://www.leadsafeworld.com/partners/) of our Lead Safe World website and companies and when visiting the website, products and organisations which help manage lead poisoning and lead contamination will be easily-identified by Logos: ‘Lead free’, ‘Lead safe’ and ‘Lead away.’

We are inviting sponsors, partnerships, and companies with proven solutions to lead problems, lead-free products and lead-safe services, to join us.

This issue of LEAD Action News also promotes the 2014 Lead-Safe World Volcano Art Prize; each month of the year is illustrated by a winning art entry on the subject of lead safety. The 13 finalists in the art competition for 2013, who received a Pictureproducts mug as their prize, are listed  at Pictureproducts mug prizes for 2013 Volcano Art Prize (VAP). All the 2014 entries are awaiting your review and voting for the People’s Choice Award, on three pages, at https://volcanoartprize.com/peoples-choice/ so get your entries in and vote now!

With the Lead News section, we highlight a report on the city of Shymkent, Kazakhstan where 40,000 pre-school children have been poisoned by the still operation lead smelter, provide some insight on what is considered a safe lead level and offer some advice on making your home and yard lead safe. We should remind you that more information and solutions can be found at our Solutions page.

Sadly, on 21st of May 2014 professor Chris Winder, The LEAD Group's expert on occupational health and safety in relation to lead, died of a brain tumour. In tribute, this issue includes all the obituary notices that The LEAD Group gathered. Photos of the poem by Chris given to all the attendees of the funeral will also be included. The LEAD Group is now in serious need of a replacement of the calibre of Chris for both our Technical Advisory Board (TAB) and for the committee of The Lead Education and Abatement Fund (LEAF). Please call if you can offer to fill either the OHS lead expert role for TAB or the knowledgeable decision maker role of LEAF.