17 February 2025, Quezon City. The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has again put the spotlight on some stainless steel tumblers decorated with lead-containing paints as these reusable water containers may pose health risks, especially to children.
Through a press release, the group announced its detection of violative levels of lead above the 90 parts per million (ppm) limit on the exterior paints of three reusable tumblers that it recently bought from retail stores in Manila and Pasay Cities.
Tumblers coated with lead-containing paints pose lead exposure risks as the paint will deteriorate and flake over time with frequent use, the group pointed out. The lead on the paint may end up being ingested by the user, especially by a child who is unaware of the health risk.
The lead on the yellow paint of this unlabeled tumbler is way above the legal limit of 0.009 percent or 90 ppm.
With the aid of a handheld point-and-shoot X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, the group detected 10,420 ppm of lead on the yellow paint of a “Baby Pooh” tumbler bought for P150.
It also found the green and yellow paints on two identical tumblers, costing P229 each, positive for lead measured at 5,190 ppm (green paint) and 1,214 ppm (yellow paint), respectively.
In previous test buys, the EcoWaste Coalition also detected dangerously high levels of lead in some brightly colored tumblers bought from offline and online retailers with some products containing over 100,000 ppm of lead. None of the analyzed tumblers provided lead content information and warning.
The DENR-issued Chemical Control Order (CCO) for lead and its compounds sets a strict 90 ppm limit for lead in paints and similar surface coatings. Its adoption in 2013 following a multi-stakeholder process involving the paint industry, civil society and other sectors paved the way for the industry-wide phase-out of lead in paint manufacturing.
Lead–containing decorative and industrial paints were eventually phased out in December 2016 and industrial paints with lead in December 2019.
The EcoWaste Coalition has been drawing the attention of regulators and consumers on the illegal importation, distribution and sale of paints and painted products such as stainless steel water tumblers that are not compliant with the said CCO.
Lead and its compounds are included in the DENR’s Priority Chemicals List, consisting of chemicals that “potentially pose unreasonable risk to public health, workplace, and the environment.”
Lead is also included in the list of 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern as per the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the WHO, “lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure to lead, the brain and central nervous system can be severely damaged causing coma, convulsions and even death. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with permanent intellectual disability and behavioral disorders.”
“At lower levels of exposure that cause no obvious symptoms, lead is now known to produce a spectrum of injury across multiple body systems. In particular, lead can affect children’s brain development, resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioral changes such as reduced attention span and increased antisocial behavior, and reduced educational attainment,” the WHO explained.
The EcoWaste Coalition pushes for the enforcement of the ban on lead in paints and in consumer products.
To ensure that only lead-safe reusable water bottles are made available to consumers, the EcoWaste Coalition renewed its call for the national government to specify the regulatory body responsible for implementing the ban on lead in consumer products such as tumblers, including the removal of non-compliant products from the marketplace.
As most of the tumblers sold locally are sourced from abroad, the group asked importers to only bring in products with bona fide certificates of conformity to the 90 ppm total lead limit for paints, and for retailers, including online sellers, to demand for such certificates from suppliers before putting any painted tumblers on sale.
The EcoWaste Coalition seeks the protection of children and other vulnerable populations from lead and other hazardous chemicals. The group is also pushing for the mandatory disclosure of chemicals in product (CiP) information to enable consumers to make sound non-toxic purchasing decisions.
References:
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DAO-2013-24-CCO-Lead.pdf
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health
