“At the markets, incidence of adulterated spice plunged from 47% in September 2019, to 5% in the first quarter of 2020, to no detectable lead in 2021.”
After a 1980s flood browned the crop, processors started dusting turmeric roots with lead chromate, an industrial pigment for plastics and furniture. Buyers paid more for brighter yellow, and the habit ran for four decades. Between 24 million and 46 million Bangladeshi children have lead levels above the WHO threshold, at an estimated $16 billion a year in lost productivity. Most processors never knew the pigment was toxic. Children paid for a color preference.