As the world celebrates the twelfth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, the focus is on eliminating lead in paint.

The world is celebrating the twelfth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) from October 20 to 26, 2024. This year’s theme, “A Bright Future Starts Without Lead,” echoes the grave danger posed by the presence of lead in environmental paints. and human health, and more particularly that of children.

Lead, a potent neurotoxin, has long been recognized as a serious threat to public health, particularly for children and pregnant and lactating women. Exposure to lead can cause irreversible damage to the brain and nervous system, leading to cognitive impairment, learning disabilities, and developmental delays. This negatively affects children’s intellectual ability, attention span and academic performance.

Increased exposure to lead can have a significant impact on the country’s economy. According to one study, lead exposure among children in low- and middle-income countries caused economic losses amounting to $977 billion per year, representing 1.2 percent of global GDP in 2011. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no known safe level of lead exposure in the human body. The United Nations agency has listed lead among the ten chemicals of greatest public health concern.

Efforts are being made at global and national levels to phase out lead from different sources as it directly and indirectly harms human health.

The phase-out of lead in gasoline has been a remarkable success, but lead in paint remains a major source of lead poisoning, even more so in developing and least developed countries. However, lead-based paint is a common source of lead poisoning in children.

They ingest and inhale lead particles even when they are within the safe confines of their home. Lead paint is most harmful when it deteriorates, releasing dust and flakes that contaminate indoor environments and pose a direct risk to human health, especially that of children.

Many countries have introduced regulations to control or ban the use of lead in paints, but this remains a problem in low- and middle-income countries where these regulations are either non-existent or poorly enforced. The continued sale and use of lead paint in more than 100 countries without binding legal limits exacerbates the threat. India has limited the use of lead up to 90 PPM in household and decorative paints through regulation, but challenges in implementing the regulation in small and medium industries persist.

The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, established by WHO and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 2009, aims to phase out lead from paint worldwide by 2025. However, given the current pace of developments, this objective seems far from being achieved if the movement is not accelerated. This year’s theme “A Bright Future Starts Lead-Free” can perhaps be catalyzed by an action-oriented approach to eliminating lead from paint. There is only one year left, so all stakeholders, including governments, industries and civil society, must come together in this global effort to eliminate lead from paint and ensure the safety of future generations.

The author is Senior Program Coordinator (Chemicals and Health) at Toxics Link; opinions are personal