About us?

Pure Earth Mexico is an international non-profit organization that has been working in Mexico since 2009 with the aim of reducing blood lead levels in the Mexican population, especially children and women. To achieve this, we work with the pottery sector to support it in its transformation into a lead-free industry and seeking that 100% of the glazed clay is lead-free for the benefit of the health of producers and consumers.

We also carry out blood lead measurements in vulnerable communities and we advocate at different levels of government to regulate the use of lead in the pottery sector.

Pottery, lead and Mexico

Millions of men, women, and children in Mexico have elevated blood lead levels. The main source of poisoning comes from lead-glazed Mexican clay. Less than 1% of Mexican glazed pottery is lead-free, the remaining 99% causes food and drinks that are cooked and consumed in glazed clay utensils to contaminate our food.

Currently in Mexico, more than 17% of children are contaminated by lead and of this percentage, 45% of children with high levels of lead in their blood are in the State of Puebla, since it is one of the main states national glazed pottery producers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) allows a maximum blood lead level of 5 μg/dL (micrograms per deciliter) and the average lead contamination in Mexican children in urban areas is 8.85 μg/dL and in rural areas. is 22.24 μg/dL.

Among the main consequences of lead in children's bodies are a decrease in IQ, weak bones as the body confuses lead with calcium, poor school performance and low productivity in adult life.

Women as leaders for change

It is the women potters who are promoting a change in their communities to solve this problem. Concerned and sensitive about the health and well-being of their family and consumers, they are carrying out sustainable actions for the benefit of health and their profession. An example of this are the potters from Acteopan and Cohuecan, Puebla and Tlayacapan, Morelos who, thanks to their awareness of union and desire to improve their social and economic situation, formed a group of women that is producing lead-free pottery. This change in their production process also led them to have important changes in their self-esteem, since they perceive themselves as community leaders and entrepreneurs of lead-free pottery, and in their health to reduce their blood lead levels.

Women Potters empowerment

The potters of Acteopan, Cohuecan and Tlayacapan are already agents of change in their communities and are seeking to emerge as an organized group of women that is making traditional pottery modern, innovative and non-toxic for producers and consumers, eliminating from its process of production the use of lead oxide.

These women are the ones who make the pottery trade professional, demonstrating to the pottery industry that producing lead-free pottery is the innovation their trade needs to resurface and improve their personal, family, and work health.

As producers of lead-free pottery, the potters improved their income by increasing their sales, had positive changes in their health, and are working to export their crafts. In addition, they are acting as lead-free pottery teachers and are inspiring a greater number of women in their trade to have more confidence, to know their place in the sector and to strengthen the art of making clay crafts so as not to lose their trade and motivate new generations to continue making pottery.