9. Ram Charitra Shah – When Harmful Chemicals Like Lead Enter the Bloodstream Through Everyday Consumer Goods, the Risk of Cancer Is Higher

Ram Charitra Sah is an environmental scientist and the Executive Director of the Center for Public Health and Environmental Development (CEPHED), a Kathmandu-based organization working on chemical safety, public health, and environmental protection in Nepal. He is best known for his work on mercury and other toxic chemicals. Under his leadership, CEPHED has carried out research, awareness-raising, and advocacy to phase out mercury in Nepal’s health sector. Its work contributed to Nepal’s first mercury-free medical city, Bharatpur, and to the Ministry of Health’s 2015 ban on importing and using mercury-based equipment in health care. His research has also covered mercury in skin-whitening creams, mercury exposure among gold-plating workers, and lead in Ayurvedic medicines. His paper on biomonitoring of mercury contamination in the human body won the “Best Paper” award among 70 papers at the First National Summit of Health and Population Scientists in Nepal.