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The United Nations
Association of Australia, this week announces the recipients of their annual World
Environment Day Awards. In the category for Outstanding Service to the Environment,
is the dedicated Elizabeth O’Brien. She is being recognised for her pioneering effort
and achievements in the area of lead poisoning prevention. Her time and work is spread
over two community services - the Lead Advisory Service Australia (LASA) and the Global
Lead Advice and Support Service (GLASS), both run by The LEAD (Lead Education and
Abatement Design) Group Inc. Elizabeth’s inspiring
passion for her cause stems from her very personal experience with lead poisoning. Her own
children have been affected by the condition, a condition that Elizabeth now knows, did
not have to occur. Thus she fights each day to prevent other parents and children
succumbing to an unnecessary grief - "I am absolutely empathic with other parents,
who I feel don’t need to go through all that…they need somebody to be telling
them how to manage and they need legislation to protect them from the silent hazards of
lead contaminated homes".
Elizabeth’s
unrelenting commitment has seen her achieve changes and developments for lead poisoning
prevention, at local, state, federal and international levels. And the involvement is
always personal and individual. Information phone numbers that provide real people not
recorded voices, personal responses to email enquiries, hand made information packs
(totalling nearly half a million items since 1997), a comprehensive and easy to navigate
website and an impressive database that boasts one of the largest collections of
information, advice and details on lead and its effects in the world.
Such brilliant dedication
is not the sole livelihood of this work – money is needed to keep services and
awareness maintained. With staggering numbers of children affected by high lead levels
worldwide, resulting in lowered IQ levels and other learning and physical problems and
millions of workers exposed to dangerous amounts of lead everyday in their workplaces, one
would assume that lead poisoning awareness and the extensive work Elizabeth undertakes
would be entitled to serious funding allocations. Unfortunately this is not the case, and
since 1996 with the change of ruling political parties, funding has declined to a
devastatingly low amount. Fred Salome, President of the LEAD Group, urges a call to
action:
"The LEAD Group is
now appealing to industry and government – especially the federal government which
gains so much revenue from Australia's massive lead exports - for funding to enable the
Global Lead Advice and Support Service to answer all the inquiries that come in. You can't
export a toxic product and then provide no support to the only Australian community group
who is providing free information on its safe management to people in over 50 countries
around the world."
"Indeed an
outstanding candidate for such an award – the environment, every parent, tiny
unsuspecting children and the rest of us who simply breathe, are right behind you."
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Media Contact: Fred
Salome,
The LEAD Group on (02) 9736 3911, mobile 0418 276 819
For Interviews: ph Elizabeth O'Brien on (02) 9716
0014.
Winners of UNAA World Environment Day awards will be announced at the Award Ceremony
in Melbourne on the evening of Friday 4th June 2004. Also see
www.lead.org.au
on Saturday 5th June 2004.
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