Lead Paint is a Growing Concern in Asia-Pacific

April 18, 2014- Colorful, lead-based paint is a common sight throughout Indonesia and the developing Asia-Pacific in day-care facilities, classrooms and on playgrounds. The region is now the largest market in the world for paint. But this rapid growth may come with serious costs to children's health, according to a new European Union-sponsored study.

A team of international researchers tested 803 paints purchased from stores in seven Asia-Pacific countries and found that 76 percent contained more lead than the US regulatory standard of 90 parts per million. At least a quarter, generally with the most vibrant pigments, consisted of more than 10,000 ppm of the neurotoxic heavy metal, added as an inexpensive way to brighten color, speed drying and prevent corrosion.

Lead's hazards to human health, particularly children, have been known for nearly a century. Decades of evidence now warns of significant impacts to learning and behavior and risks of chronic diseases at even low levels of exposure -- generally through the lead dust from deteriorating paint.

In 1978, the U.S. banned lead from household paints, but in developing countries with little history of lead-paint use, people have no awareness about this danger.

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