IPEN

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Gothenburg, Sweden Highly toxic chemicals, posing dire risks to human health, have been found in dangerous concentrations in free-range chicken eggs in Indonesian communities where plastic waste accumulates. Among the alarming findings were high levels of dioxins in eggs collected near an Indonesian factory that burns plastics for fuel. The high dioxin concentrations are similar to levels in eggs collected near the Agent Orange hotspot in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, considered one of the most dioxin-contaminated locations on earth. The study is the first to demonstrate food chain contamination in Southeast Asia with high levels of hazardous chemicals as a consequence of waste mismanagement and plastic waste imports.

IPEN, the International Pollutants Elimination Network,
Two Decades of Reducing and Eliminating the Most Harmful Chemicals

(Gothenburg, Sweden) IPEN, the global environmental health network with over 550 public interest organizations in 122 countries, is changing its name as it kicks off the next twenty years of science, policy and advocacy work to forge a toxics-free future for all.  IPEN now stands for International Pollutants Elimination Network.

Quezon City, Philippines (October 24, 2019) – IPEN, an international non-profit leader on environmental health and chemical safety, announced today that paint products manufactured by Sycwin Coating & Wires, Inc. (Sycwin), a leading paint manufacturer from the Philippines, have been certified under the Lead Safe Paint® standard. Sycwin is the world’s first company to have its industrial paint brands certified lead-safe in conformity with the approaching phase-out period for industrial paints in the Philippines at the end of the year. The certification encompasses its entire portfolio of architectural paints, including PureCoat Premium, WeatherGard, Sycwin, PureCoat Advance, Minnesota, Delaware, Alabama, and Kansas, as well as industrial paint brands Guilder and Illinois – 10 brands and 590 products in all.

Over 40 IPEN participating organizations (POs) from 36 countries are taking part in the seventh annual International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action on October 20 to 26. Together with the other partners of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, civil society groups will organize various activities to raise awareness and promote actions, such as the adoption and enforcement of laws banning lead paint, to address the human health effects of lead exposure, especially for children.