Global Lead Week of Action Calls for Ban on Lead Paint
(Göteborg, Sweden) Environmental health scientists, child health advocates, governments, and paint industry associations are uniting this week (October 21-27, 2018) for the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action. Calling for protections for the 857 million children ages 0-9 years old who live in countries with no protective lead paint regulations, organizations in 30 countries, coordinating with the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (a voluntary partnership hosted by UN Environment Programme and the World Health Organization), urge governments to adopt legislation to protect children’s health.
New data from a long-term study of 355 mothers and their children found that fixing peeling paint and removing other household sources of lead during the mother's pregnancy can reduce levels of dust lead in homes to levels significantly lower than previously deemed achievable.
(Banjul, The Gambia) More than 80 percent of the paint brands included in a study analyzing lead in solvent-based paints for home use in The Gambia sold one or more paint that contained dangerously high total lead content greater than 10,000 parts per million (ppm). The maximum allowed limit in e.g. Cameroon and Kenya is 90 ppm, which is also the recommended limit by UN Environment. Two yellow paints from the brands National and Oasis, both of which were imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contained the highest amount of lead at 100,000 ppm. Furthermore, two paints from the brand Oasis, manufactured by Al Gurg Paints LLC in UAE and advertised as “100% lead free,” contained 100,000 ppm and 65,000 ppm lead. These and other alarming findings are part of a report released today by the Young Volunteers for the Environment (YVE)-The Gambia and IPEN.
