A LOCAL waste-and-pollution watchdog on Thursday called the attention of concerned authorities about the high level of lead found in household enamel paints sold in the local market.

Lead, a heavy metal, is toxic to the brain and other organs and systems. Children and pregnant women and the child in their womb are highly vulnerable to lead in paints, especially when ingested.

Lead exposure in childhood, mainly through the ingestion of lead-containing dust from crumbling paint, has been linked to reading and learning disabilities, lower vocabulary and grammatical-reasoning scores, reduced intelligence quotient and attention span, increased absenteeism, poorer eye-to-hand coordination, and lower class standing in school, EcoWaste Coalition said.

The group said young children are most vulnerable to ingesting lead dust because they place hands and other objects like toys in their mouths, causing lead to be absorbed into their growing bodies and interfering with the development of the brain and other organs and systems.

Pregnant women and women of child-bearing age are also at risk because lead can be passed from a pregnant mother to her unborn child when lead crosses the placenta and thus affecting the fetus, EcoWaste added.

Laboratory  tests  initiated  by  EcoWaste revealed that 69 percent, or 24 of the 35 paint samples of paint bought in local hardware stores contain lead that exceed the US lead in paint standard of 90 parts per million (PPM). 

The test, conducted by the University of Cincinnati (UC) in Ohio, USA, also revealed that more than 50 percent of the samples had lead levels greater than 100 times the US standard.

Last year EcoWaste had paint samples analyzed for lead, which revealed that 40 percent of the 25 paint samples being sold in the local market recorded lead concentrations higher than 90 ppm.  The tests were conducted in a government-accredited laboratory in New Delhi, India.

The study revealed two brands that were tested were not in the earlier testing and three of five samples of one brand (Manor) and all five samples of another brand (Triton) had high levels of lead. Three brands whose paints were low in lead in the earlier testing were found to have high levels in samples of  different colors analyzed in the current testing: one green paint sample from Boysen, one yellow paint  from Challenger and four (blue, green, red, yellow) from Sphero. The yellow paint  from Sphero contained a whopping 161,700 ppm, the highest found in the current testing.

Most of the enamel paints from Coat Saver, Nation and Welcoat had high concentrations of lead as they did in the earlier study. Only the paint from one company, Popular, was found to have a low concentration of lead; however, since only a single white sample was analyzed in each testing, the lead concentration of other colors is not known.

EcoWaste’s Manny Calonzo said the high concentrations of lead in our paints underscore the need for a national regulation that will curb the presence of this toxic substance in paints to make them safe for children who are most vulnerable to lead poisoning.

Scott Clark of the University of Cincinnati who visited the Philippines last year had said that the fact that 12 out of 35 enamel paints tested meet the current US standard, which include a yellow paint, a color that is often high in lead, is proof that substitutes for lead in paint exist and that such is technologically and economically feasible to manufacture high-quality paints that will be safe and will not pose public health risks, especially to children.

Clark cochairs the legislation and regulation focal area of the World Health Organization (WHO)-United Nations Environment Program Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paints and is the adviser of EcoWaste on its advocacy to do away with lead in paints.

As part of its chemical-safety agenda, the EcoWaste will conduct further laboratory analysis of household paints in the hope of raising consumer awareness, as well as instigating regulatory action to eradicate lead in paints.

“With the technical and scientific support we are getting from Professor Clark and the environmental and health researchers in UC, we hope to continue monitoring the local paint industry’s efforts to phase out and eliminate leaded paints for the sake of the Filipino children,” Calonzo said.

According to the WHO Healthy Environments for Children Alliance, “there is no known safe blood lead level but it is known that, as lead exposure increases, the range and severity of symptoms and effects also increases.”