About

About Lead Aware NZ and Founder Ananda Card

Lead Aware NZ started as a Facebook page in 2019. Founder Ananda Card (hi that’s me!) accidentally discovered my house had many lead hazards and my baby had elevated lead in his blood. After failing to find any services to assist my family, I researched how to fix our house effectively and safely. I started the Facebook page Lead Awareness NZ to share the knowledge she found with other New Zealanders. After 3 years it changed names (to Lead Aware NZ). Over time it’s become more than just a Facebook page, to be an organisation with nonprofit status, a movement of lead-conscious parents and engaged citizens, a group for advocacy and a quest for consumer rights, transparency and better protections. 

Ananda in front of lab equipment and computer

Working at Hill Laboratories, 2014

Working as a Stay at Home Mum, 2022

A bit about Ananda:

Originally from California, I moved to Aotearoa in 2012 with my British husband. When I became a Stay-At-Home-Mum in 2017 it was a transition from one career in science to another. I have a bachelors degree in molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz, and worked in laboratories for 18 years in molecular biology, protein chemistry and analytical chemistry, doing assay/method development and validation. I first recognised the issue of lead in my home by googling “how to fix broken leadlight window” and learned that the pure lead in our windows was within easy reach of my baby at the time. A cascade of discoveries, testing and renovations followed. I would read scientific papers about lead during long evenings breastfeeding my third child and became passionate about creating change.

Building on my work from my Facebook page, I am now working in partnership and collaboration with lead poisoning prevention advocates around the world.