10月20日至26日是世界衛生組織WHO國際鉛中毒預防行動周。聯合國環境規劃署（UNEP）於期間22日發表新研究，指出鉛含量超標的塗料正威脅開發中國家懷孕婦女和兒童的健康。
該研究由UNEP和WHO共同領導的非政府組織「消除含鉛油漆全球聯盟」（Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint）主持，總共蒐集了三大洲、9個國家，共234罐的瓷性裝飾塗料，包括阿根廷、亞塞拜然、智利、象牙海岸、衣索比亞、迦納、吉爾吉斯、突尼西亞和烏拉圭，最後並在美國的實驗室內進行分析。
絕大多數的塗料未達到先進工業國家的安全標準。「今日幼稚園的紅色牆壁和彩色玩具竟然還會讓兒童暴露在鉛中毒的危險之中，令人難以置信。」UNEP發言人Nick Nuttall說。
雖說鉛是常見於亮色系顏料的添加劑，但只有20個樣本的塗料罐上有標示鉛含量，大多數是來自烏拉圭的樣本。一般來說，白色塗料的含鉛量最少，綠色、紅色和黃色含鉛量最高。研究發現，9個國家中僅有少數國家設立含鉛量的限制，但有設立含鉛量限制的國家，塗料樣本的含鉛量明顯較少。
智利和烏拉圭規定不得生產、進口、銷售和使用含鉛量600ppm以上的裝飾塗料。這兩國的塗料樣本測試結果含鉛量都很低。但其他7個國家都有2個以上的塗料樣本含鉛量超過10,000ppm，其中4個國家甚至有樣本含鉛量超過99,000ppm。有5個國家超過半數樣本含鉛量在600ppm以上。600ppm是許多國家採用的限制標準。美國和加拿大的標準是90ppm。
塗料中的鉛可能造成嚴重的健康風險，因為塗料會隨著時間逐漸脫落，散落在家中或進入屋外的土壤中，被兒童觸摸到並吃下肚。WHO統計顯示，每年鉛中毒估計造成143,000人死亡，其中含鉛塗料是主要肇因。
最新的WHO指導手冊指出，目前沒有兒童最高可接受的鉛暴露標準，但在中低收入國家，99%的兒童都有高度的鉛暴露風險。「根據WHO的統計，兒童時期的鉛暴露每年造成約600,000例智力受損。」Nuttall說。即使沒有明顯或臨床的鉛中毒症狀，鉛暴露仍有可能造成兒童智力受損和影響心智發展，導致學業表現和日後工作生產力低落。
UNEP研究報告僅涵蓋9個國家，但其他研究指出，許多經濟正在轉型的國家也有很高的鉛風險。2012年肯亞非政府組織iLima的研究發現，家庭用的塗料鉛含量平均高達14,900ppm。
UNEP研究報告建議：各國應管制含鉛塗料以及以含鉛塗料上色的產品之製造、進口、銷售和使用，並告知大眾鉛暴露對人體，尤其是兒童的影響；市面上的含鉛裝飾性塗料、含鉛塗料是兒童鉛暴露的主要來源，以及其他安全的替代性產品。最後，塗料製造商應致力於減少塗料中的鉛含量、參與第三方的無鉛檢驗認證，以及透過內容物標籤幫助消費者辨識不含鉛的塗料。
Pregnant mothers and young children in the developing world are still exposed to “astonishingly high and dangerous levels of lead” through unsafe paints, finds a study by the UN Environment Programme, released Tuesday during the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action.
The study analyzed enamel decorative paints from nine countries on three continents: Argentina, Azerbaijan, Chile, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia and Uruguay.
“In this day and age, it is quite frankly breathtaking that parents painting their child’s nursery a cheerful red, or handing their child a colorful toy may, through no fault of their own, be exposing that child to a pernicious and damaging toxin – lead,” said Nick Nuttall, UNEP’s spokesperson and director of communications.
The research was organized by the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, a group co-led by UNEP and the World Health Organization.
A total of 234 cans of enamel decorative paint were purchased and tested in a lab in the United States.
Most of the paints tested would not meet regulatory standards established in most industrialized countries, such as the 90 parts per million limit in the United States and Canada. Generally, white paints had the lowest lead content, while red, green and yellow paints had the highest lead levels.
The report finds that few nations have established regulatory frameworks, but those that have exhibit lower lead paint levels.
Both Chile and Uruguay have national executive decrees that prohibit the production, import, distribution, sale and use of decorative paints with a lead concentration above 600 ppm, and all of the paints tested in these two countries had low total lead concentrations.
But in each of the other seven countries studied, two or more of the samples of enamel decorative paints had lead content greater than 10,000 ppm.
In four of these countries, at least one of the decorative paints tested had a lead concentration at or above 99,000 ppm.
In five of the nine countries, more than half of the decorative paint samples tested had lead content greater than 600 ppm, the regulatory limit in many other countries.
Despite the high levels of lead, which is normally added as a pigment and so is most present in bright colors such as yellow and red only 20 out of the sampled paint cans offered information about lead content, the vast majority in Uruguay.
Lead in paint is a problem because painted surfaces deteriorate with time and disturbance, releasing the lead into household dust and soil outside. Children ingest lead from dusts and soils during normal hand to mouth behavior.
Recent World Health Organization guidelines indicate that there is no known acceptable lead exposure level for children, and 99 percent of children affected by high exposure to lead live in low-income and middle-income countries.
“Each year, according to World Health Organization figures, childhood lead exposure contributes to an estimated 600,000 new cases of intellectual disabilities,” said Nuttall.
Damage to children’s intelligence and mental development occurs even when there are no obvious or clinical signs of lead poisoning, decreasing their performance in school and lifelong productivity at work.
An estimated 143,000 deaths a year result from lead poisoning, according to WHO data; lead paint is a major contributor to this death toll.
While the UNEP report covers nine countries, previous research shows that lead levels remain high in other countries with economies in transition. A study in published in September 2012 by the Kenyan NGO iLima found an average lead concentration of 14,900 ppm in 31 samples of household paint.
The UNEP report recommends:
National efforts to promote the establishment of legal and regulatory frameworks to control the manufacture, import, export, sale and use of lead paints and products coated with lead paints.
Information campaigns to inform the public about the hazards of lead exposure, especially in children; the presence of lead decorative paints for sale and use on the national market; lead paint as a significant source of childhood lead exposure; and availability of technically superior and safer alternatives.
Paint manufacturers are encouraged to eliminate lead compounds from their paint formulations, and participate in programs that provide third party certification that no lead has been added to their paint. They are encouraged to label products to help consumers identify paints free of added lead.
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