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Toxics Watchdog Group Urges Mindanao-Based Online Dealers to Stop Selling Leaded Spray Paints
24 March
2021, Quezon City. Quezon City-based
EcoWaste Coalition appealed to dealers of aerosol or spray paints from Mindanao
not to sell products containing violative levels of lead through online
shopping platforms.
The group
revealed that three of the 13 spray paints that it had found to contain
dangerously high concentrations of lead, a chemical banned in the manufacture
of paints, were procured from an online dealer who shipped the items from Davao
City.
Three variants
of F1 Aerosol Paint from the said dealer were among those found by the group
with excessively high lead content. A
leaf green F1 spray paint had 56,100 parts per million (ppm) lead, a medium
yellow F1 had 50,800 ppm lead and an orange yellow F1 had 11,500 ppm lead. The manufacturer and country of manufacture
of the said products are not written on the label.
The group
had earlier announced its discovery of more non-compliant paints with lead
content ranging from 4,500 to 56,100 ppm, which are way above the total lead
content limit of 90 ppm under DENR A.O. 2013-24, or the Chemical Control Order
for Lead and Lead Compounds.
“We appeal
to online as well as offline sellers of lead-containing spray paints to
discontinue the unlawful sale of such products that goes against the
government’s policy of eliminating lead paints,” said Thony Dizon, Chemical
Safety Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition.
“We
likewise appeal to online shopping sites to take down the ads for these
non-compliant paints to protect consumers from ordering items that can later
pose a risk of lead exposure,” he added.
Environmental
health scientist Dr. Geminn Louis C. Apostol explained that “lead paint chips
and dust are formed when a surface covered with lead paint ages, peels and breaks.” He warned that “children are exposed to lead
when they eat such paint chips or swallow or breathe in lead dust, which can
affect their developing brains and cause reduced intelligence, learning ability
and attention span, as well as increased risk of behavioral problems such as
aggressiveness, bullying and violence,”
“Health
experts have not determined any level of lead exposure that is deemed safe and
without detrimental effects,” said Apostol who is also an Assistant Professor
at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health.
Recognizing
that lead paint is a major source of childhood lead exposure, and that such
exposure causes serious harm to children and other vulnerable groups like women
of child-bearing age and workers, the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) issued in 2013 a groundbreaking policy eliminating
lead-containing paints.
With
active support from the EcoWaste Coalition and the Philippine Association of
Paint Manufacturers (PAPM), the DENR promulgated A.O. 2013-24 phasing out
lead-containing decorative paints in 2016 and lead-containing industrial paints
in 2019.
The
EcoWaste Coalition had so far discovered 50 leaded aerosol paints being sold by
online and offline retailers in violation of the country’s lead paint
regulation. None of the non-compliant
spray paints found by the group was produced by companies belonging to the
PAPM.
Complete
list of the lead-containing spray paints and their lead content:
- F1 Aerosol Paint (leaf green), 56,100 ppm
- Colorz Chisai Acrylic Spray Paint (lemon
yellow), 55, 200 ppm
- F1 Aerosol Paint (medium yellow), 50,800 ppm
- Veslee Aerosol Paint (lemon yellow), 45,900
ppm
- Super 7 Acrylic Spray Paint (yellow), 31,200
ppm
- Veslee Aerosol Paint (green grass), 22,400
ppm
- Colorz Chisai Acrylic Spray Paint (fresh
green), 18,600 ppm
- Super 7 Acrylic Spray Paint (leaf green),
13,100 ppm
- F1 Aerosol Paint (fluorescent orange yellow),
11,500 ppm
- MR. D.I.Y. Spray Paint (orange), 10,400 ppm
- MR. D.I.Y. Spray Paint (sugar cane), 8,910
ppm
- MR. D.I.Y. Spray Paint (apple green), 6,820
ppm
- Sanvo Aerosol Paint (green grass), 4,500 ppm
Reference:
https://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/chemicals_phc/en/
http://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DAO-2013-24-CCO-Lead.pdf
https://www.fda.gov.ph/fda-advisory-no-2020-1585-public-health-warning-against-the-purchase-and-use-of-spray-paints-containing-significant-levels-of-toxic-heavy-metal-lead-pb/
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