Prior to 1978, when it was banned for residential use in the U.S. and many other countries, lead-based paint was popular for a number of reasons. Lead was inexpensive and widely available, and its use contributed to the availability of fast-drying, durable paint in vibrant colors.

A U.S. ban on lead-based paints was put in place when lead was discovered to be harmful to children, with exposure resulting in lifelong consequences. However, 60% of the world’s nations still have no such ban and its use remains unregulated in the developing world. Lead paint continues to cause more than a million deaths each year.

Lead paint can pose a threat to public health, particularly for children. In a new publication, Penn scientists and colleagues underscore the importance of implementing policies that ban the production and trade of lead paint to stop further problems before they start. Source: Reto Gieré

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) has teamed up with University of Pennsylvania faculty members as well as experts from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Global Council for Science and the Environment to produce a new publication calling for the worldwide eradication of lead paint for the prevention of lead poisoning.

"The Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint is a UN partnership working to remove this harm by helping countries develop lead paint laws. We hope that this article will raise awareness of the serious problem caused by lead paint, that children can be protected from exposure to lead paint through the enactment of laws, and that the Alliance can offer assistance in developing those laws,” said Walker Smith, a coauthor on the paper and principal international advisor in the EPA's Office of International and Tribal Affairs.

Removing lead-based paint is difficult and expensive, prohibitively so in impoverished communities in the U.S. and around the world. Preventing its use in the first place is a much simpler goal to accomplish.

"Stopping the use of lead paint is one of the easiest problems to take care of and at the same time lead paint remains one of the primary sources of lead exposure, especially for kids. It is urgent that every country has a law banning its use," said Reto Gieré, the first author on the paper and a professor in Penn's Department of Earth and Environmental Science.

He adds that the cost of substituting synthetic alternatives is minimal, particularly when compared to the huge benefit to public health that would be achieved by doing so. Lead poses the greatest risk to young children. They are more likely than adults to be in contact with chipping paint or lead dust and since their bodies and brains are still developing, they are more vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects, even at low-level exposure. Impacts include diminished learning ability and more behavioral problems. Ingestion at high levels can be fatal.

The efforts of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint to encourage action on lead threats has the support of paint industry groups. The UN has drafted a model law that countries can enact to facilitate the ban on lead-paint production, sale and importation.

"More and more countries are coming on board with this," said Gieré. "Governments are starting to recognize the problem and are jumping on the bandwagon. This is a call for them to act, and they have to be willing to introduce legislation."