 
 
 
 
 
The LEAD Group Inc aims to create a Lead Safe World, and to ensure that the ecosystem is 
protected from lead in all its uses - past, current and new uses.  
ABN 25 819 463 114 
 
MEDIA RELEASE 22 August 2026 
Tiny Charity Speaks for Australia on Global Lead Safety 
Enter Volcano Art Prize by 11:59pm Monday 24 August and do more for a lead-safe 
world than any company in the country 
A tiny, unfunded Australian charity has just filed its 2026 progress report on global lead safety to 
UNICEF's Partnership for a Lead-Free Future, and it is asking ordinary Australians to help, one artwork at 
a time, before its annual Volcano Art Prize closes at 11:59pm this Monday, 24 August, 2026. 
The LEAD Group's report lists a year of global firsts for a body that runs on donations and volunteer 
labour. It campaigned for years for the World Health Organization's International Lead Poisoning 
Prevention Week of Action, now marked annually in October in more than 100 countries. In August it 
web-published what it calls the world's largest searchable lead library, more than 15,000 articles online 
drawn from 30,000 catalogued across 36 years. And in February 2026 its 'Model National Lead Safety 
Policy' was added to the UNICEF Partnership's global knowledge library for any government to tailor and 
adopt. 
"No Australian company or government agency has anything at all to report to the world on creating 
global lead safety or even lead safety at home, yet our tiny charity does," says co-founder Elizabeth 
O'Brien, known as Grandma Lead. "Some governments are even heading the other way: the NSW 
Government is bending over backwards to fast-track a new mine near Mudgee, promoted as the 
Bowdens Silver Mine, but it will mostly dig up lead. Australia has for decades been the world’s largest 
lead exporter so in 2024, The LEAD Group petitioned the Australian government to develop a Circular 
Economy for Lead – to promote recycling and eliminating uses like leaded AvGas but the old habit of 
digging up more lead dies hard. Our August 2026 issue of LEAD Action News has some excellent 
solutions for “Fixing Broken Hill Lead Problems” and you can help us to get governments to focus on 
solutions and catch up with the “people before profits” paradigm!" 
"I love encouraging ordinary earthlings to get creative," Ms O'Brien says. "Send us a photo, artwork or 
very short film with a lead-safety message, and with a single entry you will be doing more for global 
lead-safety awareness than any company or government in the country.  
You could win one of 33 prizes and be published at www.volcanoartprize.com and in our newsletter, 
LEAD Action News." Volcano Art Prize 2026 is free to enter for children, and free for everyone in non-
OECD countries; adults in OECD countries pay only $10 per entry; entries and public voting are open 
now, with winners to be announced during the 14th annual International Lead Poisoning Prevention 
Week of Action – Sunday 25th to Saturday 31st October 2026. 
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Contact: Elizabeth O’Brien, aka Grandma Lead, Lead Scientist and Lead Advisor, The LEAD Group Inc, 
Freecall 1800626086, PO Box 161, Summer Hill NSW 2130 Australia, Websites: www.lead.org.au; 
www.leadsafeworld.com; www.volcanoartprize.com; www.adra.com.au   