International. Environmental health scientists, child health advocates, governments and paint industry associations came together in the week of October 21-27 for the International Week of Action for the Prevention of Lead Poisoning. Calling for protections for the 857 million children aged 0-9 living in countries without lead protective paint regulations, organizations in 30 countries, in coordination with the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (a voluntary partnership organized by the United Nations Environment Program and World Health Organization), urge governments to adopt legislation to protect children's health.
Along with the Leading Week of Action, 33 IPEN member NGOs from 30 countries are launching activities in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, Southeast and East Asia and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia to highlight that children in their countries lack protection from exposure to lead paint and urge governments to take action.
Recent painting studies conducted in Gambia, Mexico, Iraq and Jamaica underscore the need to enforce efforts to accompany strict regulations. Research indicates that legislation alone is not enough to keep children safe. Not only should the regulation set total lead limits below 90 ppm in paint and include home and industrial paints, but compliance and oversight is also essential.
In The Gambia, 62% of the paints sampled had a lead content greater than 90 ppm. In Iraq, 42% of the paintings sampled exceeded the 90 ppm limit. Mexico is an example of a country where requirements not to use lead in paint production are clearly not met, as 45% of paints sampled in 2018 contained total lead levels above 90 ppm, the internationally recommended regulatory limit for all paint.
Sampling in Jamaica highlights a national success and an area of concern. All 35 solvent-based paints for home use measured below the 90 ppm limit. However, an industrial paint with a warning on the label that says "for professional use only, not for home use," was sold at the counter without any instruction from the seller about its use. The paint contained 150,000 ppm of lead. This dangerously high lead level underscores the need to include industrial paints in national legislation, as has also been seen in studies in Africa and Asia.
"There are no safe levels of lead exposure. It's surprising that manufacturers continue to produce lead-based paints for use in homes, schools, and daycare centers, knowing that their products can permanently harm children. The safest paint ingredients have been available and in use for decades," said Dr. Sara Brosché, Campaign Manager of IPEN's Global Lead Paint Removal Campaign. Although some producers have begun to remove lead from their products, an alarming amount of lead paint continues to be sold in all regions of the world. "That's why governments must act now to demand the removal of lead paint additives and dramatically improve the life chances of children in their countries."
Several countries have enacted laws on lead paint over the past ten years, including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania in Africa; and India, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand in Asia. Successes in many countries, such as the Philippines, which now has an 85% lead-free market, are due to collaborative efforts in which public interest groups engage government and industry in collaborations to promote lead paint laws, leading to growing domestic markets for safe lead paint.
"Compliance monitoring by designated regulatory agencies is a vital safety check. While several paint companies have joined forces to transform the market and demonstrate the business sense of removing lead from their paint production by participating in a third-party Lead Safe Paint® certification program, too many continue to add toxic lead to their paints. A recent paint study in The Gambia revealed that an imported paint product using a '100% lead-free' label contained lead levels of 100,000 ppm," said Manny Calonzo, IPEN Lead Paint Removal Advisor and winner of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize for his multiple coalition model of stakeholders in the Philippines and leadership for global lead paint disposal. "This highlights the need to adopt and enforce regulations and conduct sustained compliance monitoring to keep children safe."
Source: IPEN.
