The East African Coatings Congress held in Nairobi June 8-9 was not only a forum for industry insiders, experts, consumers and policy makers to converge and compare notes on the latest industry trends, but also provided an opportunity for the United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) and other organizations to sound the alarm over the growing threat of lead poisoning and urge paint manufacturers to join efforts to remove the threat in the short term.

Unep’s Pauline Muchai told participants at the Congress that although there is a wide recognition of lead poisoning and many countries have taken action, “exposure to lead, particularly in childhood, remains a key concern to healthcare providers and public health officials worldwide.”

“Paint that contains additives poses a risk of lead poisoning, especially for young children,” she said.

“As lead paint deteriorates over time, children may inhale or ingest lead through household dust, paint chips or contaminated soil,” added Muchai.

She said Unep estimates that reduced cognitive potentials (loss of IQ points) due to preventable childhood lead exposure is equal to 98.2 million points in Africa, which translates into economic losses of about $134.7 billion a year.

“Unfortunately it is still legal to sell lead paint in many countries around the world for decorating homes, schools and children’s  toys,” said Muchai.

The Unep official cited new research by the New York University, which shows that the economic cost of lead poisoning in South Africa could be as high as $17.7 billion, an equivalent of 3.17 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The research estimates the economic cost in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya at $4.47 billion, $4.14 billion and $3.76 billion respectively which is an equivalent of 4.73 percent, 6.06 percent and 5.26 percent respectively.

She said Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire have a slightly lower economic cost of lead poisoning at $2.52 billion and $1.76 billion respectively.

“The loss of IQ in children has enormous economic cost with low to middle income countries losing roughly $977 billion a year from lead poisoning with Africa losing an estimated $135 billion,” she said.

Muchai said in Ethiopia the government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn “is now in the process of developing draft regulation for consideration by the Ethiopian Council of Ministries that would establish a 90 parts per million (ppm) standard for decorative paints.”

She said the standard is based on a recommendation from the Ethiopian Standards Agency, which has consulted the paint industry on lead poisoning and that the standard “is based on the outcome of the East Africa Sub-regional Workshop on the Establishment of Legal Limits on Lead in Paint held in Addis Ababa in December 2015.”

In Kenya, Muchai said the country’s standards regulator, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) is working on establishing the 90 ppm standard for lead in paint which is also based on the outcome of the last year’s the Addis Ababa-held East Africa Sub-regional Workshop on the establishment of legal limits on lead in paint.

Tanzania is another Eastern Africa country which through its Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS) is also working on establishing a 90 ppm standard for lead in paint based on the same standard like that of Ethiopia and Kenya.

Global efforts to eliminate lead paint are being spearheaded by Lead Paint Alliance, an initiative jointly led by World Health Organization and Unep. The initiative has a target of ensuring all countries adopt a legally binding law on lead poisoning by 2020.
It also hopes to ensure all paint manufacturers have eliminated the use of added lead “in priority areas” by 2020.

AkzoNobel and the International Paint and Printers Ink Council are some of the advisory group members in the Lead Paint Alliance.

Several approaches are being used in securing the cooperation of governments and manufacturers in eliminating use of added lead in paint according to Muchai. These include encouraging the paints and coatings industry to voluntarily stop the manufacture and sale of lead in paint, convincing governments without existing legislation to enact lead paint laws by overcoming possible barriers, recognizing elements of success of existing laws that could be incorporated into ongoing efforts by countries and input /advice/advocacy to get lead paint on relevant meetings and conference agendas such as the African Union.

“There is no known level of lead exposure that is considered to be safe,” said Muchai.

“Childhood poisoning can have lifelong health impacts such as learning disabilities, anaemia and disorders in coordination, visual, spatial and language skills,” she said.

Jeiel Guarino of IPEN, a global network comprised of more than 700 public interest, non-governmental organizations in 116 countries, said some paint manufacturers argue that transitioning to lead-free zones, would require more than a year, a period that they think will see them “lose ground and therefore prefer waiting for governments to set the regulations.”

He told participants some of the paint manufacturers say “making the change to lead-free paints will increase the cost of the paint products.”

Guarino said others manufacturers argue the small quantity of supplies that they need will cost more and that creating and printing new labels will be too costly.

However, Guarino said even if the paint manufacturers are reluctant to change to lead-free products “the switch to unleaded paints is coming and companies that change the quickest and advertise that they have done so will do the best in the marketplace.”

“Those that wait for government regulations may be left behind,” said Guarino.

He said the perception by paint manufacturers that changing to a lead-free regime will be too costly for them ignores the fact that “the cost to our children and our countries for not acting is even greater.”

“We have talked to many companies who have reduced their lead content below 90ppm, and no one has told us that it increased the price significantly,” said Guarino.

The EACC participants heard that the switch to lead-free paint products could increase material costs by 2 percent “but the overall production cost is minimal.”

“While organic materials may cost more, less is needed, and by careful pigmentation selection and formulation, the cost differential can be minimized or overcome,” said Guarino.

The IPEN lead paint elimination campaigner said, creating and printing new labels for the new lead-free products need not be expensive because manufacturers have options such as “printing the labels periodically as part of the overall marketing effort in doing business.”

Guarino said the regulatory frameworks “usually includes a phase-out period during which new materials and marketing strategies be developed.”

“Lead-free products offer opportunity to capture new customers from competitors,” he said.

Guarino said IPEN supports the 90ppm total lead because it is an “achievable and protective goal for lead paint worldwide and also is a regulatory standard in the U.S, Canada, Philipines and Nepal.”

“Total lead provides a more predictable test for manufacturers who have test results from ingredients,” he said.