This study, conducted by Centre for Environment Justice and Development (CEJAD) in partnership with IPEN, presents new data on the total lead content of solvent-based paints for home use available on the market in Kenya. It also presents background information on why the use of lead paint is a source of serious concern, especially to children’s health; a review of national policy frameworks that are in place to ban or restrict the manufacture, import, export, distribution, sale and use of lead paint; and provides a strong justification to adopt and enforce further regulatory controls in Kenya. Finally, it proposes action steps by different stakeholders to protect children and others from lead paint.
International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action is an annual event held each year to raise awareness of the hazards of lead and lead paint, in particular. In October 2016, events to mark the week were held in at least 42 countries. Thirty-three of these events were organized by IPEN NGOs. Read IPEN's newsletter about the 2016 Week to see what took place around the world.
East Africa is racing against time to phase out paints with high content of lead additives.
The East African Community (EAC) requirement provides for 100 parts per million (ppm) of lead content for paints used in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and South Sudan, to be complied with within three years.
Quezon City. Twenty paint companies are now producing architectural, decorative and household (ADH) paints free of health-damaging lead-based-pigments, driers and anti-corrosion agents.
The EcoWaste Coalition, a chemical safety and zero waste watch group, revealed the good news after receiving written responses from paint manufacturers confirming their compliance with the three-year phase-out period for lead-containing ADH paints that ended last December 31, 2016.
