The illegal importation of leaded paints justifies stricter global rules on the trade lead chromate pigments and paints containing them.
Quezon City. Lead-containing paints manufactured in China continue to taint the local paint market despite the country’s ban on paints with added lead additives.
Issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in December 2013, the globally-recognized Chemical Control Order (CCO) regulating lead, a potent neurotoxicant and an endocrine disrupting chemical, banned the use of lead in the production of all paints and similar surface coatings.
Decorative paints containing lead in excess of the maximum limit of 90 parts per million (ppm) were subsequently banned effective December 31, 2016. Leaded industrial paints followed suit on December 31, 2019.
Despite the completion of the phase-out period for lead-added paints, non-compliant paints such as those sourced from China continue to flood the local market.
For its latest test buys conducted in anticipation of the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week from October 20 to 26, the EcoWaste Coalition purchased six new variants of China-made Standard Aerosol Spray Paint from retail stores in Apalit, Pampanga and Pasay City.
Out of the six products, three Standard Aerosol Spray Paints were found to contain lead in violation of the 90 ppm regulatory limit as determined through X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) screening of dried paint samples. One of the failed samples (Jialing red) was actually banned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last May 2024 for testing positive with lead.
The Gongcheng orange red spray paint contained 63,570 ppm of lead, while the orange yellow and Jialing red colors had 37,290 ppm and 45,620 ppm, respectively. Lead was not detected on the three other variants (gold, Jetta white and transparent purplish red).
Aside from lead, included in the list of the product’s ingredients are other chemical substances of very high concern such as cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), di(2- ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIDP).
Manufactured by Guangzhou Hexin Industry Co. Ltd, the analyzed products were produced between July 15, 2022 to May 25, 2023 — way past the phase-out period for lead-containing paints in the Philippines.
A multi-function paint, Standard Aerosol Spray Paint can be used on interior and exterior surfaces of a wide range of materials. As per images on the label, it can be used for cars, motorcycles, household furniture and electrical appliances such as electric fans and refrigerators.
The product label includes the following License to Operate (LTO) number: CCHUHSRR-NCR-HUHSI/W-0841.
This is not the first time that the EcoWaste Coalition discovered samples of Standard Aerosol Spray Paint with dangerous levels of lead as confirmed through laboratory analyses.
Based on laboratory tests performed by a global testing company, the following colors of Standard Aerosol Spray Paint contained violative levels of lead: art yellow (18,500 ppm), light green (20,400 ppm), leaf green (22,900 ppm), gem green (38,500 ppm), orange yellow (39,300 ppm), deep yellow (48,900 ppm), and post green (51,800 ppm).
However, the old variants of Standard Aerosol Spray Paint provided no information about their manufacturer, country of manufacture, list of ingredients and LTO number unlike the new variants.
To prevent the importation of lead-containing paints such as those mentioned above, the EcoWaste Coalition and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) are campaigning, together with other environmental health groups, to get lead chromates (the most common pigments used in lead paint) listed under the Rotterdam Convention to control the export and import of such hazardous chemicals and the paint products containing them.
References:
https://www.who.int/campaigns/international-lead-poisoning-prevention-week
https://ipen.org/site/listing-lead-chromates-under-rotterdam-convention
