24 paint products in PHL have high lead content — EcoWaste

(Updated 1:14 a.m.) Twenty-four of 35 paint products in the Philippine market contain high levels of lead, a heavy metal that is toxic to the brain and other organs and systems, EcoWaste Coalition said in a statement, citing test results. The products, bought in Philippine hardware stores and sent to University of Cincinnati (UC) in Ohio, USA for testing, exceeded by 90 parts per million (ppm) the US standard on lead-content in paint. “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," said the group's Manny Calonzo Known by its symbol Pb and Atomic No. 82, lead has been linked to widespread environmental pollution and health problems affecting not only the nervous system but also the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, hematologic, and renal systems. This is the second time that the EcoWaste had paint samples analyzed for lead content. In 2009, 40 percent of the 25 paint samples from the Philippines tested in a government accredited laboratory in New Delhi, India recorded lead concentrations higher than 90 ppm, the group said. The average lead concentration was similar in both tests at over 300 times the US standard. Two brands in the US test were not in the tests done in New Delhi and three of five samples of one brand (Manor) and all five samples of the brand (Triton) had high levels of lead. Three brands whose paints contained low levels of lead in the 2009 analysis were found to have higher levels in the 2010 analysis — one green paint sample from Boysen, one yellow paint from Challenger and four (blue, green, red, yellow) from Sphero, according to the test results. “The yellow paint from Sphero contained a whopping 161,700 ppm, the highest found in the current testing, may be toxic to the brain and other body organs," EcoWaste said. “The fact that more than one-third of the paints tested (12 out of 35) meet the current US standard (including a yellow paint, a color that is often high in lead) is evidence that substitutes for lead in paint do exist in the Philippines and that it is technologically and economically feasible to manufacture high-quality paints sans lead additives", said UC Professor Scott Clark. Clark, who visited the Philippines in December 2009, co-chairs the legislation and regulation focal area of the World Health Organizaiont/United Nations Enviromental Programme (WHO/UNEP) Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paints and advises the EcoWaste Coalition on its advocacy to do away with lead in paints for children’s health. EcoWaste said that as part of its chemical safety agenda, it will conduct more laboratory analysis of household paints to raise consumer awareness and instigate 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." — VS, GMANews.TV