(Beijing, China)A new study on lead in decorative paints sold in China released today by Insight Explorer and IPEN finds that more than half of the paints analyzed exceed Chinese lead regulations. Moreover, even when paint brands offer paint with lower levels of lead, consumers have no way of knowing it because very few of 141 paint cans analyzed in the study carried information about lead content on the label.
“The health impacts of lead exposure on young children’s brains are lifelong, irreversible and untreatable,” said Pan Qingan, Project Director of China Heavy Metal Pollution Map. “We are limiting our children and our nation’s future intellectual development even though safe and effective alternatives are already in use and widely available in China. We must reduce this critical source of lead exposure to young children.”
Semia Gharbi, representative of l’Association de l’éducation environnementale pour les futures générations (AEEFG), the IPEN Regional Hub for the Middle East and North Africa, and May Granier, from the IPEN Participating Organization Association Tunisienne d'Agriculture Environnementale, are featured in this article about the pesticide glyphosate from La Presse de Tunisie:
This new article in Chemistry World about a new catalyst over 30 years in the making features information about IPEN’s China Chemical Safety Project. The Project case study referred to in the article is about a Qihua PVC plant in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province.
Tadesse Amera, IPEN Steering Committee Member and Director of IPEN Participating Organization Pesticide Action Nexus Ethiopia, and Ted Smith, Coordinator of IPEN Participating Organization International Campaign for Responsible Technology, are featured in this story from Ensia: These companies are figuring out how to take the toxics out of electronics
Beirut, Lebanon | Seattle, USA Sierra Leone just announced that they want no part of a reported deal that would send Lebanese household waste to the West African nation. Last month, the Government of Lebanon approved a plan to export many tons of household trash from Beirut and Mount Lebanon to an African or Middle-Eastern country. The global dumping plan has been denounced by local and international waste experts as not only likely illegal but also environmentally irresponsible.
Despite the opposition, Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, chair of the ministerial committee in charge of the waste management plan, announced that the government has agreed to contract two international companies in accordance with local and international laws to export Lebanon's trash -- Howa BV from the Netherlands and Chinook Urban Mining International of the United Kingdom.