Plumbing paints in Asia for lead content
Despite the availability of lead-free pigments, paint makers in Asia continue to market dangerous products.
Lead remains present at high levels in household paints sold in some Asian countries, according to a new survey published in the September issue of Environmental Research.
In a small sampling of interior paints marketed in China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, Scott Clark of the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues found that some samples contained lead levels well over 180,000 ppm. The U.S. limit is 600 ppm for new paints; however, the standard for existing paints is 5000 ppm.
Years of worldwide effort have led to some success in phasing out lead in gasoline, a major source of airborne lead. But household paints pose a particular hazard to children, who are exposed through hand-to-mouth behaviors and through play in soil with lead dust.
Some Asian countries regulate lead content in paint, but others do not. On the basis of their surveys and from previous assays of children’s blood lead levels, the authors note that companies selling lead-based paints in one country sometimes market lead-free paints elsewhere.
