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lead in enamel paints
As per the CSE report, the highest lead content was in the deep orange paint of the Shalimar's Superlac brand, 185 times the BIS limit and 308 times the US paints limit of 600
ppm. Berger brand Luxol’s golden yellow colour had a staggering 162,559 ppm lead, 163 times the BIS limit and 271 times the US paints limit. All the samples of ICI-Dulux had lead much below the specified limit.
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New Delhi, August 17
Paints used in Indian homes come with a deadly health cost, says the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). The NGO’s latest study suggests that most of popular brands of paints contain high quantities of lead, a toxin especially dangerous for children.
Over 2008 and 2009, CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory tested these brands for lead content. It found 72 per cent of the samples had lead much higher than the voluntary limit specified by the BIS. There is no mandatory standard for lead levels in paints in the country.
CSE Director Sunita Narian says: “Every moment, we are building a stock of unwanted, toxic chemicals in our bodies. Lead from our house paints is one of them. It is deadly because it can lower children’ IQ”.
The CSE lab had tested endosulphan residues from environment and human samples in Kasaragod district in Kerala in 2001. In 2003 and 2006, pesticide residue tests were carried out on bottled water and soft drinks while blood samples of farmers in Punjab were tested for pesticides residues in 2005. The most recent study was on transfat levels in cooking oils in
February 2009.
As per the CSE, its lab procured 25 samples of popular enamel paints randomly from Delhi markets and analysed them for lead content. The brands tested were Apcolite (Asian Paints), Nerolac (Kansai Nerolac Paints), Luxol (Berger Paints India), Superlac (Shalimar Paints)
and Dulux (ICI India). The study covered five of the six major companies in the organised sector, which control 75 per cent of the household paints market.
“Results were startling. Lead was found in 23 of the 25 samples tested and 18 samples contained lead much higher than the 1,000 ppm limit specified by the BIS. The highest lead content was in the deep orange paint of the Shalimar’s Superlac brand, 185 times the BIS limit and 308 times the US paints limit of 600 ppm. Berger brand Luxol’s golden yellow colour had a staggering 162,559 ppm lead, 163 times the BIS limit and 271 times the US paints limit. All the samples of ICI-Dulux had lead much below the specified limit. In fact, of the five paints manufacturers, only ICI did not use lead in its paint formulations. The white shades of Asian Paints and Nerolac also conformed to the standards,” says Narian.
Based on this study, when CSE wrote to the companies asking for their plans to remove lead from paints, Asian Paints and Nerolac responded saying that they were in the process of change. In 2009, CSE tested to confirm what had been done by taking samples from each of the five major companies.
“This study showed improvement in the sample of Asian Paints and Nerolac, but samples of Berger and Shalimar still had high and unacceptable levels of lead in paint. Clearly while getting rid of this toxin from our common household product is possible, it is not being done on a voluntary basis, without mandatory regulations, Narian says.
“Doctors refer to lead as the silent epidemic. The human body cannot process and excrete lead. Sustained and large exposure can cause serious damage. Children are especially susceptible. Lead can damage their still developing central nervous systems and brains, leading to a child performing poorly in exams or having short attention spans. Adults exposed to lead poisoning may find it difficult to concentrate or remember things, and feel pain in muscles and joints. Even extremely low levels of lead can impair foetal development,” the CSE Director adds.
The CSE says it is easy to get exposed to lead. One can pick it up by touching paint on walls and other surfaces, inhaling exhaust fumes from a vehicle or while walking on leaded paint chips.
The US Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry has declared lead level in blood exceeding 10 microgramme per decilitre as unsafe. Studies indicate that over 60 per cent of children in India may have more than this level in their blood and paints are a key source.
The CSE study refers to research done by the Mangalore based-Kasturba Medical College, published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics in 2004, which had found 11 children out of 104 with over 40 microgramme per decilitre of lead in their blood. One, who had a blood lead level of almost 73 microgramme per decilitre, regularly played on a swing coated with lead-based paint. The child’s lead level dropped to 46 microgramme per decilitre when the swing was repainted with a lead-free product.
“It is for this reason that governments across the world have set mandatory standards for lead in paints the most common exposure for households.
Like most chemicals, paints in India can be made, sold and used without any regulatory controls. The BIS specifications for the paints sector are voluntary, setting the limit at 1,000 ppm. The US, Canada and Singapore have limited the lead content in their paints to 600 ppm. The European Union had, as far back as 1988, banned lead in paints. Now it allows lead-based paints for restoration of art works and buildings. It stipulates harsh warning on any paint product, which has lead,” the CSE said.
