CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Spray paints being sold online that were traced back to Davao City were found to be highly toxic as an environmental group has called on a ban on these products.
The group EcoWaste Coalition has appealed to dealers of aerosol or spray paints from Mindanao not to sell products containing violative levels of lead through online shopping platforms.
EcoWaste Coalition revealed that three of the 13 spray paints that it had found to contain dangerously high concentrations of lead, a chemical banned in the manufacture of paints, were procured from an online dealer who shipped the items from Davao.
“We appeal to online as well as offline sellers of lead-containing spray paints to discontinue the unlawful sale of such products that goes against the government’s policy of eliminating lead paints,” said Thony Dizon, EcoWaste Coalition chemical safety campaigner.
Dizon has also appealed to online shopping sites to take down the advertisements for these non-compliant paints to protect consumers from ordering items that can later pose a risk of lead exposure.
The group said three variants of F1 Aerosol Paint from the said dealer were among those found by the coalition with excessively high lead content.
A leaf green F1 spray paint had 56,100 parts per million (ppm) lead, a medium yellow F1 had 50,800 ppm lead and an orange yellow F1 had 11,500 ppm lead. The manufacturer and country of manufacture of the said products are not written on the label.
The group had earlier announced its discovery of more non-compliant paints with lead content ranging from 4,500 to 56,100 ppm, which are way above the total lead content limit of 90 ppm under DENR A.O. 2013-24, or the Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds.
According to Dr. Geminn Louis Apostol, an environmental health scientist, explained that “lead paint chips and dust are formed when a surface covered with lead paint ages, peels and breaks.”
Apostol warned that children are exposed to lead when they eat such paint chips or swallow of breath in lead dust, which can affect their developing brains and cause reduced intelligence, learning ability and attentions span, as well as increased risk of behavioral problems such as aggressiveness, bullying and violence.
The EcoWaste Coalition had so far discovered 50 leaded aerosol paints being sold by online and offline retailers in violation of the country’s lead paint regulation. None of the non-compliant spray paints found by the group was produced by companies belonging to the Philippine Association of Paint Manufacturers.
