Grave danger, especially for the young, could be lurking in homes around the country because of a component so ubiquitous, one rarely ever pays attention to it.
The paint that adorns walls, furniture and even children’s toys could be a dangerous source of lead contamination.
A study conducted by the Environmental and Social Development Organisation (ESDO) and supported by the European Union and IPEN titled “National Report On Lead in New Enamel Household Paints of Bangladesh 2015” revealed that the number of paints with lead levels above 10,000 ppm had not changed since 2012-13.
“Nineteen out of twenty-two brands in Bangladesh still sell paints with a lead content above 600 ppm. Lead levels remain dangerously high in 15 brands, with one or more paints with levels above 10,000 ppm,” it said.
“Five brands of paints now sell paints with lead content levels below 90 ppm; 7 brands – 85% of the paint market – sell paints with lead content levels below 600 ppm.”
Evidence of reduced intelligence caused by childhood exposure to lead has led the World Health Organisation (WHO) to list “lead-caused mental retardation” as a recognised disease.
WHO lists it as one of the top ten diseases whose health burden among children is due to modifiable environmental factors. According to the WHO, there is no known safe level of exposure to lead.
While lead exposure is dangerous for adults, it harms children at much lower levels – and the health effects are generally irreversible.
The younger the child the more harmful lead can be, and children with nutritional deficiencies absorb ingested lead at an increased rate.
The human foetus is the most vulnerable, and a pregnant woman can transfer lead accumulated in her body to her developing child.
Poisoning can occur when infants chew on painted items and directly ingest lead paint.
Children are also exposed to lead from paint when deteriorating paint on walls, windows, doors or other painted surfaces begins to chip and lead is released into the dust and soil.
The most common way that children ingest lead is through lead-contaminated dust and soil that gets onto their hands.
Hand-to-mouth behaviour is especially prevalent in children aged six years and under, the age group most easily harmed by exposure to lead.
A typical one- to six-year-old child ingests between 100 and 400 milligrams of house dust and soil each day.
Once lead enters a child’s body through ingestion, inhalation or across the placenta, it has the potential to damage the central nervous system, brain, blood system, kidneys and skeleton.
The ESDO study in 2012-13 found that all paints analysed from five brands, including market leaders Berger and Asian Paints, contained less than 90 ppm lead.
But nearly two-thirds of paints sampled in 2012-13 had lead concentrations above 600 ppm and would not be permitted for sale or use in most highly industrialised countries.
In the 2014-15 study, paints from 24 brands were analysed. Most of them – 22 of 24 – were selected for analysis because they contained lead above 90 ppm in the 2012-13 study.
ESDO Secretary General Shahriar Hossain said: “Only seven companies have eliminated lead from their products. Local companies, especially, are not interested in decreasing lead levels in their paints.”
The studies were undertaken as part of the Asian Lead Paint Elimination Project.
The Bangladesh Paint Manufacturers’ Association (BPMA), said the local paint industry was worth over Tk20 billion, with 61 companies producing 77,000 metric tonnes of paint annually.
BPMA Secretary General Md Shamsuzzaman said: “With the right technology paints can become safer. But the trade-off is cost – using higher technology will increase the price of the product.”
