For Immediate Release:
For More Information: Ejatou Jaiteh, YVE-The Gambia, +220 3158303, ejatoujaiteh@gmail.com
Joe Bongay, YVE-The Gambia, +220 7968963, yvegambia@gmail.com
Jeiel Guarino, IPEN, +46 31 7995930, jeielguarino@ipen.org
(Banjul, The Gambia) More than 80 percent of the paint brands included in a study analyzing lead in solvent-based paints for home use in The Gambia sold one or more paint which contained dangerously high total lead content greater than 10,000 parts per million (ppm). The maximum allowed limit in e.g. Cameroon and Kenya is 90 ppm, which is also the recommended limit by UN Environment. Two yellow paints from the brands, National and Oasis, both of which were imported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), contained the highest amount of lead at 100,000 ppm. Furthermore, two paints from the brand, Oasis, manufactured by Al Gurg Paints LLC in UAE and advertised as “100% lead free,” contained 100,000 ppm and 65,000 ppm lead. These and other alarming findings are part of a report released today by the Young Volunteers for the Environment (YVE)-The Gambiaand IPEN.
