The approximate ten million residents of Dhaka city are now having to contend with an ever increasing amount of lead in the air, with the result that many are already falling sick. A recent survey by the Shishu Hospital on the level of lead in the blood of children revealed it as high as 200 micrograms, when the permissable limit is one-eighth of that. The reason for this air polllution can be attributed to the plying of defective vehicles on the road which emit a huge quantity of lead into the atmosphere. According to a World Bank report, 15 thousand people die and thousands more suffer from morbidity due to this kind of air pollution. (editorial)