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The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia and UNICEF sign a Memorandum of Understanding
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Trilateral Cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) and the United Nations Children's Fund in Georgia (UNICEF), which envisages conducting joint research on the lead content in spices to prevent negative effects of lead on children and adults.
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The First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Mr. George Khanishvili, the Director General of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), Mr. Amiran Gamkhrelidze, and the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Georgia, Mr. Ghassan Khalil signed the respective MoU.
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 "The high level of lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. The Memorandum aims to implement a program, under which, the aforementioned issues will be thoroughly examined. At the same time, it will allow the National Food Agency to develop recommendations, entailing a list of actions to ensure and promote safe nutrition for children," said Mr. Khanishvili stated.
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As stated by the representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Georgia, Mr. Ghassan Khalil, studying the impact of lead on health is one of the most important issues. Within the framework of the MoU, the parties will make their best efforts to eliminate the problem of lead poisoning in the country through conducting of a relevant research.Â
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According to Mr. Amiran Gamkrelidze, Director General of the National Public Health Center (NCDC), high lead content-related issues should be settled in Georgia through the support of the United Nations Children's Fund in the next few years and the parameters should be brought closer to European standards.