Lead Exposure from Paint

Historically, lead compounds have been added to oil-based decorative and industrial paints and other coatings to enhance colour, reduce corrosion on metal surfaces or shorten drying time. Today, non-leaded pigments, driers and anti-corrosive ingredients are widely available for use in most oil-based paints.

After the application of lead paint, weathering, peeling or chipping of the paint releases lead particles into dust and soil in and around homes, schools, playgrounds and other locations. Decorative paint for household use has been identified as the main source of children’s lead exposure from paints. Lead-containing dust can also be brought into the home on the clothes of those who work in industries where such dust is generated, including paint factories where lead additives continue to be used.

 
Lead-contaminated soil and dust are easily ingested and absorbed, particularly by young children when they play on the floor or outdoors and put their hands or other objects in their mouths. Children also ingest lead if they mouth and chew toys painted with lead paint. Both children and adults can be exposed to lead in paint chips and dust during the removal of old lead paint.

Negative Health Effects from Lead Exposure

There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe. Lead can cause permanent damage to the brain and nervous system, resulting in decreased IQ and increased behavioural problems. It can also cause anemia, increase the risk of kidney damage and hypertension, and impair reproductive function. Young children and pregnant women (whose developing fetus can be exposed) are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of lead. Even relatively low levels of exposure can cause serious and irreversible neurological damage. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has estimated that, based on 2017 data, lead exposure accounted for 1.06 million deaths from long term effects and 24.4 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost.

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Preventing Health Effects and Related Economic Costs

The negative impacts on children’s developing brains resulting from exposure to lead has staggering economic costs that are borne by the affected children, their families and societies at large. These include health care costs, productivity losses and intellectual disability. 
The largest economic burden of lead exposure is borne by low- and middle-income countries. Estimated annual costs (in international dollars) of lead exposure by global region, based on loss of IQ, include the following: Africa - $134.7 billion; Latin America and the Caribbean - $142.3 billion; and Asia - $699.9 billion.

The cost of removing existing decorative lead paint from surfaces in homes, schools and other buildings can be substantial. By contrast, the economic cost is low for eliminating the use of lead compounds in new decorative paints. In fact, many manufacturers have already successfully reformulated their paint products to avoid the intentional addition of lead. According to the paint industry, the reformulation of residential and decorative paints to eliminate lead additives is feasible, and the technical and cost impacts are manageable. Increasingly, paint producers are publicly stating that it is possible to eliminate lead additives in all types of paint.

Lead is Still Present in Paint in High Levels in Many Countries

Since 2009, more than 100 studies have shown that lead paints are still widely sold in low- and middle-income countries. Most of the paints tested for lead were found to exceed the 90 parts per million (ppm) or 600 ppm legal limit that has been set by many countries as an achievable limit. In addition, many of these paints contained very high levels of lead: above 10,000 ppm of the dry weight of the paint.

The Importance of Lead Paint Laws

The elimination of lead exposure at its source is the single most effective action to protect people from the harmful effects of lead. Most industrialized countries adopted laws or regulations to control the lead content of residential and decorative paints in the 1970s and 1980s, based on clear findings that lead-containing household paint is a major source of lead exposure in children. However, the continued use of lead in paint in many parts of the world remains a significant environmental source of human exposure. To protect human health, laws, regulations or enforceable standards are needed in every country to stop the manufacture, sale and import of lead-containing paints.

Countries that have enacted laws to limit the lead content in paint have generally used one of two approaches:

(1) establish a single regulatory limit on the total concentration of lead in paint from all sources, or;
(2) establish a set of chemical-specific regulatory limits based on the management of risks of individual lead compounds that are used as additives in paint (currently used in the EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical (REACH) regulation).

Both approaches have been effective in limiting the lead content in paint.

90 ppm total lead is the concentration limit recommended by the "Model Law and Guidance for Regulating Lead Paint". It is the lowest, most protective regulatory limit for lead paints that has been set in countries.

Legal Approach 1: Regulatory Limits on Total Lead Concentration

As of September 2019, of the 73 countries with lead paint laws, 35 countries had established a single regulatory limit on the total or soluble lead concentration in paint (in parts per million). These existing lead limits range from 90 ppm to 1,000 ppm or higher. Twenty-nine countries have a limit of 90, 100 or 600 ppm, which are all relatively low levels and indicate that lead compounds have probably not been added to the paint. Among countries with low limits, only one country uses a regulatory limit on soluble lead content, which is somewhat less protective than a limit on total lead content. There may be additional countries that also currently use a regulatory limit on soluble rather than total lead.

 

 

 

Legal Approach 2: Chemical-Specific Regulatory Limits

Chemical-specific regulatory limits are used by 38 countries, of which 31 have adopted the EU REACH regulation on lead compounds in paints. EU REACH restricts the addition of certain specific lead compounds to paints intended for supply to the general public, based on risk management assessments. Some specific lead compounds for use in paints are subject to an authorization procedure for manufacturers and importers that requires analyses of health and environmental risks and the availability of non-lead alternatives.