(Groups Rally Behind Government-Ordered Phase-Out of Lead-Added Industrial Paints)
Friday, 21 December 2018
Note: The EcoWaste Coalition and the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers (PAPM) are very pleased to share the following press release to mark the 5th anniversary of the issuance of the country's Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds, and to signify the groups' backing for the 2019 phase-out of lead-containing industrial paints. Hope you find this useful, thank you very much, and joyful holiday greetings.
Few realize that it is still legal to manufacture and use lead paint in the U.S. and most countries around the world
Paint companies are expected to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for lead paint abatement in California after the U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to intervene in an 18-year legal battle.
High levels of toxic substances have been found in over 32% of children’s toys tested in a recent analysis of toxic heavy metals and chemicals in toys on the market in the Philippines. None of the samples, including a toy with 198,900 ppm of lead, provided a list of chemicals that make up a toy nor provided text or graphic warnings. The study, released on the Universal Children’s Day on November 20, the day when the UN General Assembly adopted the “Declaration of the Rights of the Child” in 1959 as well as the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” in 1989, underscores the need to expedite the enactment of the proposed Safe and Non-Toxic Children’s Product Act in the Philippines. The Act seeks to regulate the manufacture, importation, distribution and sale of children’s toys, school supplies, childcare articles and other related products containing toxic chemicals beyond the permissible limits. The study was conducted by the EcoWaste Coalition, a public interest NGO in the Philippines, and IPEN, a global network of public interest health and environment NGOs.
In celebrating the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action (ILPPWA), Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) and other institutions had been urged to enforce standards on lead in paint to protect children.