Beware of paints with high lead content, they can make children violent

New Delhi: Everyone wants their home to look beautiful and for this we use colourful paints. But did you know that the paint we use is quite dangerous. These paints adversely affect our health and the most vulnerable are our children. These facts were revealed by researchers who observed that household paint contains unsafe levels of lead. The addition of lead compounds to decorative paints poses unacceptable risks. The research conducted by Toxic Links found dangerous levels of lead in samples of household decorative paints collected from Indian markets. The results suggest that paint already used in children's surroundings comprise a route of exposure of lead to the young and most vulnerable population. “Exposure to even small amounts of lead can reduce a child's intelligence and school performance and can also cause increased violent behavior, so high levels of lead in paint are a cause for serious concern not only for families, but the country as a whole. This damage is lifelong and irreversible,” said Ravi Agarwal, Director Toxic Links. The status of lead uses in micro, small and medium enterprises is so far unknown, but this study indicates that the small and medium paint manufacturers are adding excessive amounts of lead in their decorative paints. The paint study was done in coordination with the IPEN Asian Lead Paint Elimination Project, which is being implemented in seven different countries with a total European Union funding of EUR 1.4 million (INR 118 million) over a period of three years. Toxics Link is implementing the project in India. Major paint manufacturer consistently added lead in their decorative paint until 2007, with the exception of one paint manufacturer who claimed to produce paints without added lead from early stages. Now all major paint manufacturers are slowly phasing out lead from their decorative paints. Toxics Link conducted the first research on this issue in 2007, where 1,40,000 ppm of lead was detected as the highest amount in Indian decorative paint. A follow up study in 2009detected 49,600 ppm as the highest level of lead and a third study in 2011 detected 34,700 ppm of lead as the highest concentration. Painted surfaces deteriorate with time or when disturbed, and lead from the paint then contaminates household dust and soils surrounding the home. Children ingest lead from dusts and soils during normal hand to mouth behavior. Damage to children's intelligence and mental development occurs, even when there are no obvious or clinical signs of lead poisoning. A total of 250 samples of new enamel decorative paint from 147 were purchased and analyzed for lead content. The average concentration of all analyzed paints was found to be 22,800 ppm. Very high lead concentrations above 10,000 ppm were found in 111 of the 250 paints analyzed; 96 of the paints contained concentrations between 10,000 and 600 ppm, and 17 of the paints contained concentrations between 600 and 90 ppm. The highest concentration was observed in yellow colored paints. Lead concentration above 90 ppm was detected in 102 (94%) out of 109 yellow paints, 105 (87%) out of 121 white paints, 8 (80%) of 10 paints with dark colors (black, brown and grey) and 9 (90%) of 10 of brightly colored paints (green, blue and red).