Leading the fight against use of lead in paints

Like everything else today, the paint industry has been in marketing overdrive, fuelled by competition and innovation.

But this sales drive has been overshadowed by the underlying concerns of components in some of these paints. In this case the use of lead.

In a report released two years ago, local manufacturers were criticised for the level of lead in their paints. This is according to the first study of lead in decorative paint in Kenya released in September 2012 by the non-governmental organisation, Ilima.

The study, which examined 31 samples of home-used enamel paint from 11 major Kenyan paint companies found that the average lead concentration of all paints sampled was 14,900 parts of lead per million (ppm) lead.

By comparison, the United States prohibits the sale and use of house paints that contain more than 90 ppm lead: the average lead concentration of the tested paints purchased in Kenya was 165 times higher than the US limit.

All the major brands tested at the time had at least one paint color with high levels of lead that exceed internationally recognised limits for lead in paint.

Eight of the 11 brands tested had at least one colour with more than 10,000 ppm lead. The highest lead concentration found in any of the Kenyan paints tested was 69,000 ppm.

This is more than 750 times higher than the maximum lead content that would be allowed in house paints sold in the United States.

According to the study, exposure to even small amounts of lead can reduce a child’s intelligence and school performance and can also cause increased violent behaviour.

“Painted surfaces deteriorate with time or when disturbed, and lead from the paint then contaminates household dust and soils surrounding the home,” says Alice Ng’ang’a, Executive Director at Ilima, a Kenyan NGO. 

Study

Ng’ang’a says children ingest lead from dusts and soils during normal hand to mouth behaviour.

The study was sponsored by IPEN, an international network of health organisations.

Damage to children’s intelligence and mental development occurs, even when there are no obvious or clinical signs of lead poisoning. This damage is lifelong and irreversible.

“The hazards of lead to children’s development has been recognised for more than 80 years and governments of virtually all highly industrial countries in North America, Europe and elsewhere have prohibited the sale and use of leaded house paints for more than 40 years,” said Jack Weinberg, senior policy advisor to IPEN.

The report titled ‘Lead in Kenyan Household Paint’, was released as delegates from around the world met in Nairobi to develop an international approach to safe chemicals management.

The International Conference on Chemicals Management, which held its third tri-annual meeting from September 17-21, 2012 in Nairobi, identified lead in paint as an international priority of concern.

This was then. Today, stakeholders in the paint industry say a lot has been done to reverse the trend. A lot of awareness creation has also been put in place.

Kenya joined the world to mark the International Lead Poisoning Week from October 19-26, 2014.

The Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (Kirdi) organised a series of awareness events to sensitise Kenyans on lead poisoning and self-protection mechanisms.

According to Dr Faridah Were, a senior researcher at Kirdi, all paint manufacturers should voluntarily eliminate the use of lead in their products, in line with calls by the United Nations.

“It is possible to formulate good, cost-effective substitutes for lead paints. There is therefore no compelling reason to continue with the formulation of lead paint that has adverse health effects on humans, particularly women and children,” she said recently in Nairobi.

Dr Were says freshly processed or applied lead paints are not an immediate source of lead exposure. However, over time, the painted surfaces usually age and peel off, and become airborne.

“Airborne lead is persistent in the environment and settles down as dust. It is easily inhaled and can contaminate the soil or water or get into human beings indirectly through the food chain,” says Dr Were.

According to Kirdi research, lead paint poses a risk to the health of Kenyans, including delaying the growth of children and leading to mental disorders. Lead compounds are often added to paint to give bright yellow, red, blue and green colours.

They also make the paint dry faster and more evenly. In most cases water based paints do not contain added lead.

Recent World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines indicate that they cannot establish a tolerable weekly intake for lead. They, however, found out that the vulnerable groups are the children, women and workers.

The European Safety Authority Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain has concluded “there is no evidence for a threshold for critical lead-induced effects.”

Local companies have been doing their bit too. “Basco Paints position is that we are lead free in the Duracoat Decorative water borne and solvent borne paints (water based paints and oil based paints),” said Basco Paints Operations Director Bipin Shah.

He added: “However, some primers (undercoats) that are used with the Duracoat Range are not lead free due to performance requirements.”

Shah says that  that as Basco Paints, they are equally concerned on lead usage and are pursuing all options available to replace lead usage altogether in all their products.

Basco Paints shifted to lead free paint in August 2013.

The biggest player in the local industry is Crown Paints (K) Ltd. “At Crown Paints (K) Ltd, we have ensured strict adherence to regulations concerning paint safety. As the first step we have dropped components of paints such as lead, Cchromates, butyl oxytol, benzene, and toulene, which have long term hazardous effects on users and the environment.”

Green revolution

Crown Paints (K) Ltd, has also put plans in place to support the “Green Revolution” by preparing to make all their paints water based in the next 20 years.

“This is characterised by all our recently launched products being water-based. Last year, we launched a water based varnish Aquavar which was a ground-breaking innovation since varnishes have traditionally been oil-based,” says  Technical Sales Executive George Osom, adding that it is their endeavour to continue manufacturing paints and paint products that are hazard free and friendly to the environment.

Dr Were says lead in paints leads to lead poisoning due to exposure. She says that many companies use lead in their manufacturing purposes.

“We carried out research on lead exposure and blood pressure among workers in diverse industrial plants that use lead in their processing in Kenya between 2010 to 2012. This study was published in the Journal of Occupational Environmental Hygiene 2014.

“We found that there is a link between lead exposure and elevated high blood pressure. This demonstrates that workers who are severely exposed to lead are suffering from the health consequences and experience higher rates of cardiovascular disease, which may eventually lead to death,” says Dr Were.

In October this year, Kirdi carried out a consultative forum with paint manufacturers and suppliers. Surprisingly four out of 15 companies that participated revealed that they were still using lead driers and catalysts for formulation of oil based paints.

Lead pigments

Many companies were still using lead pigments especially yellow (lead chromate) for decorative paints.
Were adds that the fact that lead paints are available, cheap and attractive to the client makes them more popular.

She says regulating paints is not easy and there is need for legislation.

The Kenya Bureau of Standards is however, working on standards to regulate paints.

The lack of regulation has resulted in confusion with customers not knowing which paints are lead free, hence they cannot make informed choices, according to Dr Were.

Oil-based paints are the biggest culprits. The paint is okay when it is applied but when it peels off, it is dangerous.

“The international community has put out a plan to phase out lead paints in 70 per cent of countries by 2015 and all countries by 2020. Most Kenyan companies are committed to phase out lead in household paint by next year,” says Were.

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