Philippine health advocates seek vigilant enforcement of lead paint ban

Some paint products banned by the Philippine government four years ago for containing violative levels of lead, a potent neurotoxin not allowed in paint manufacturing, are still being offered for sale to uninformed consumers, including online shoppers.

The environmental and health watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition made the appalling revelation after conducting a rapid market investigation last August 22-24, 2024 in Baguio, Manila and Quezon Cities to check on business compliance to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory No. 2020-1585 issued on August 26, 2020.

At the request of the EcoWaste Coalition, FDA issued the said advisory against 37 imported spray paint products for containing “significant levels”of lead way above the 90 parts per million (ppm) limit under the DENR-issued Chemical Control Order (CCO), which, among other provisions, banned lead compounds used as pigments, drying catalysts or anti-corrosion agents in the making of paints and similar surface coatings. Of these 37 paints, 29 tested with dangerously high lead levels surpassing 10,000 ppm with a grass green King Sfon Spray Paint containing 82,100 ppm.

“The unchecked importation, distribution, sale and use of these dangerous paint products pose significant health risks to our people, especially the children, women of child-bearing age and the workers,” said Manny Calonzo, Campaigner, EcoWaste Coalition. “While local paint manufacturers have painstakingly shifted to lead-safe formulations, some foreign manufacturers have not as evidenced by the proliferation of imported leaded paints in the market, including in e-commerce sites, despite being ‘sternly warned’ by the FDA.”

Of the 37 spray paints representing 19 brands that were banned in 2020, at least six brands can still be found on physical retail stores, as well as in online stores, including Anton Spray Paint (Honda red), King Sfon Spray Paint (grass green), Koby Spray Paint (fresh green and Suzuki red), Sinag Spray Paint (orange red), Standard Aerosol Spray Paint (orange yellow), and Yandy Spray Paint (jade green).

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Further laboratory tests commissioned by the EcoWaste Coalition also detected high concentrations of lead in the other variants of Anton, King Sfon, Koby, Sinag, Standard and Yandy paint products.  For example, the apple green, blackish green, fresh green, grass green, leaf green, jade green, Shifeng green, Jialing red, Suzuki red, canary yellow, deep yellow, medium yellow, orange yellow, and violet colors of Yandy Spray Paint all tested for lead above 90 ppm. Yandy can also be obtained online for as low as P75 per can.

“The continued proliferation of imported lead-containing spray paints is putting vulnerable sectors, children in particular, at risk of lead poisoning. Until such time when trade of lead paints and lead chromates—the main lead-based ingredient in paint—is controlled, more children will get harmed by this neurotoxin,” said Jeiel Guarino, Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaigner, International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).

For this reason, IPEN and its members, including the EcoWaste Coalition, are campaigning to get lead chromates listed as hazardous chemicals subject to the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure.  If listed, companies exporting lead chromates or paints containing them may not ship these commodities to a country that has not consented to receiving them.

Environmental health specialist Dr. Geminn Louis Apostol explained: “While lead is harmful to everyone, children are most vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of lead exposure to health and development. Early exposure in life can adversely affect the brain and central nervous system, causing hearing, reading and learning difficulties, delays in speech and language development, reduced intelligence, poor school performance, attention deficit disorder, and behavioral problems. There is no amount of exposure that is deemed safe.  Children are usually exposed to lead by ingesting lead contaminated dust or soil, and by biting or chewing toys and other objects containing lead.”

“Enforcing the lead paint ban is essential to reduce human exposure to this toxic chemical,” emphasized Apostol, a research faculty of the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health – Center for Research and Innovation (ACRI) and a health expert partner of the EcoWaste Coalition.

To recall, the DENR issued the lead paint ban in 2013 through the issuance of the said CCO, which established a maximum total limit of 90 ppm for lead in all paints and further phased out lead-containing decorative and industrial paints following a three-year phase-out period (2013-2016) for the former and a longer six-year transition for the latter.  The CCO received in 2021 the coveted Future Policy Award from the World Future Council for catalyzing the paint industry’s transition towards lead-safe paint manufacturing.

Together with IPEN, the EcoWaste Coalition is collaborating with the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau, DOH-FDA and the Philippine Paint & Coatings Association, Inc. (PPCAI) to further strengthen compliance to the internationally-acclaimed lead paint ban to protect the health of children and other vulnerable groups from this highly preventable source of lead exposure.