The Ecowaste Coalition urged the national government for stricter regulatory action after discovering extreme lead content on some aerosol paints with that are in retail stores and online shopping sites in some parts.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Jan. 11, EcoWaste Coalition Chemical Safety Campaigner Thony Dizon said that aerosol paints with high lead content were supposed to be phased out in accordance with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s (DENR) Chemical Control Order (CCO) issued last December 2016.
The CCO required a maximum limit of 90 parts per million (ppm) for lead in paint and a three-year phase-out period (2013 to 2016) for leaded decorative paints and a longer six-year period (2013 to 2019) for leaded industrial paints.
“We find it very disappointing to find more lead-containing spray paints being sold at retail stores and online shopping sites in violation of the COO. These decorative paints, which are marketed for general use and are accessible to consumers, should have been phased out on Dec. 31, 2016,” said Dizon.
From October to November 2021, the environmental group investigated 60 spray paints samples representing 16 brands that were bought in various retail stores and online shops in the cities of Angeles, Antipolo, Batangas, Calamba, Lucena, Mabalacat, Malolos, Manila, Paranaque, San Fernando, and San Jose del Monte imported from China and Thailand.
According to EcoWaste, samples were screened for lead content, and results showed that 37 out of 60 samples exceeded the 90 ppm limit.
The group handed the 37 samples to SGS, a private testing company, and laboratory results confirmed that the samples representing 11 brands contained violative lead concentrations up to 97,100 ppm.
Here are the list of the top 15 samples with the highest lead concentrations:
Meng Qi Bo Shi Qi Pai Zidong Penqi (grass green), 97,100 ppm
Koby Spray Paint (medium yellow), 95,800 ppm
One Take Spray Paint (green), 88,900 ppm
King Sfon Aerosol Spray Paint (lemon yellow), 86,300 ppm
King Sfon Aerosol Spray Paint (orange red), 85,800 ppm
Sinag Paint Aerosol (lemon yellow), 85,800 ppm
Korona Spray Paint (yellow), 64,800 ppm
Haifei Spray Paint (light green), 64,000 ppm
Haifei Spray Paint (art yellow), 62,000 ppm
Silvestre Spray Paint (high temp yellow), 54,300 ppm
Meng Qi Bo Shi Qi Pai Zidong Penqi (lemon yellow), 51,900 ppm
Standard Aerosol Spray Paint (post green), 51,800 ppm
Korona Spray Paint (orange), 50,900 ppm
King Sfon Aerosol Spray Paint (yellow), 50,100 ppm
Standard Aerosol Spray Paint (deep yellow), 48,900 ppm
On Jun. 29 last year, the Philippines received the Future Policy Award (special category for lead in paint) for being the first country in Southeast Asia to successfully implement a lead-safe paint regulation.