CAP calls for lead-free paints to protect children
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/03/22/cap-calls-fo...
Joe Fernandez | March 22, 2016
The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls lead paint “a major flashpoint” for potential lead poisoning after lead was phased out from petrol.
GEORGE TOWN: The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP), citing tests it conducted with IPEN (International POPS Elimination Network), has called on the authorities concerned to promulgate laws to eliminate lead in paints. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls lead paint ‘a major flashpoint’ for children’s potential lead poisoning and says that ‘since the phase-out of leaded petrol, lead paint is one of the largest sources of exposure to lead in children’”
CAP President S. M. Mohamed Idris added in a statement that the authorities concerned should also strictly enforce the Trade Description Act. “It was found that there were paint companies blatantly violating the act.”
“As lead has a strong impact on children, immediate action should be taken to safeguard the future generation.”
The joint tests found, according to Idris, that more than 60 per cent of the samples tested contained exceedingly high lead levels.
“For the tests, 39 cans of solvent-based enamel decorative paint were purchased from various stores in several towns in the states of Kedah and Penang.”
”The paints represented 18 different brands produced by 17 manufacturers. Samples from these paints were analyzed by an accredited laboratory in the USA for total lead content.”
Key findings from the test, said CAP, include:
Sixteen out of 39 enamel decorative paints contained a total lead concentration above 600 ppm (parts per million). Twelve samples contained dangerously high concentrations of lead above 10,000 ppm. The highest lead concentration detected was 150,000 ppm.
Eleven of 18 analysed brands sold at least one paint with lead concentrations above 10,000 ppm including brands from multinational companies.
Yellow paints were the most hazardous with 12 of 19 samples of yellow-coloured paints having lead concentrations greater than 10,000 ppm.
In addition, the study also included 12 samples of red paints and eight white paints.
In general, said the CAP statement, paint can labels did not carry meaningful information about lead content or the hazards of paint with high lead content and some paints with high lead concentrations were falsely advertised as being “low lead”.
Children are exposed to lead when painted surfaces deteriorate over time and contaminate household dust and soils, according to WHO. Children, ages 0-6, engaging in normal hand-to-mouth behaviour are most at risk of damage to their intelligence and mental development from exposure to lead dust and soil.
The health impacts of lead exposure on young children’s brains are lifelong, irreversible and untreatable.
Lead was also introduced into the gastrointestinal tract when children chew on objects such as toys, household furniture or other articles painted with lead paint. Continued use of lead paint is a primary source of childhood lead exposure.
