Such high concentration of lead tells on the intelligence level of children, retards their physical growth and expose them to various other problems in later stages of life, she said. Dr Khan said she delved into a very small percentage of children who live in Dhaka. Our worst fear is that thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of children in the city are exposed to lead pollution. At least nine million people live in Dhaka. Its air is heavily polluted with leaded exhausts from nearly 175,000 motor vehicles including more than 40,000 auto-rickshaws, which use leaded petrol with a mixture of engine oil.
Experts say the mix is dangerous.
Officials said the government had taken a strategy to discourage import of auto-rickshaws, phasing them out in the next four years and importing unleaded petrol. But it would take sometime before the country's only oil refinery is fully equipped to refine unleaded fuel, Dr Amir Khan said. The chemist said it would cost only 50 poishas more to refine the leaded petrol into unleaded. Till December, it tested emission level of 11,000 vehicles.