Lead is a poisonous metal widely used. It is in an air, water, soil and food product pollutant, harmful to human health, especially the mental and physical health of children.
Since the usage of lead in car fuel was stopped, Lead in paint is the primary source of dangerous heavy lead exposure of children.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no safe level of exposure to lead in a child’s blood, regardless of the make and brand of paint colours. There is a pressing need to produce lead free paints and dyes especially those used in homes, schools, nurseries, private gardens, public parks and essentially anywhere were children are.
Many studies that we have conducted on widely used paints in the Lebanese market (locally made or imported), and of various brands and colours (especially, red, yellow and white), contain worryingly high levels of lead. This calls for swift intervention from concerned ministries and specifically, the Lebanese Standards Association, Libnor, to accelerate the provision of standard regulating the maximum levels of lead permitted in paints, which should not exceed 90 ppm (parts per million)
During the last week of October, countries around the world host activities demanding lead-free paints to protect children and adults from the harmful effects of lead laden paints. We in Lebanon, join the Global Lead Paint Elimination Alliance, the WHO and various governmental and non-governmental organizations that are organizing various awareness activities highlighting the dangers of lead in paint and calling for legislatives steps to eliminate them. We ask that national manufacturers and importers of paints and dyes abide by international standards. Furthermore, we demand that Lebanon officially adheres to these standards and regulations, so that lead concentration in all paints and dyes does not exceed 90 ppm.
These standards have been adopted and implemented in many developing and developed countries around the world including countries in the Arab World. Alternatives to lead are readily available for paint and dye manufacturing purposes. We have no excuse to justify the continued use of dyes based on lead content in paints made in Lebanon.
We call upon the Ministries of Environment, Health and Industry, Libnor, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (especially those working in paint manufacturing), national non-governmental agencies active in the field of public health and environment protection, civil society, various media platforms and the public and private sectors, to put substantial effort in speeding up the process of putting in place Lebanese standard that national producers and importers must adhere to. This will increase the level of chemical security and safety, and in turn protect our children and their natural growth from dangerous effects of lead exposure.
