Half the industrial colours contain excessive lead: Esdo

• BSTI-approved lead limit is 90 ppm
• 30.8% of decorative paints contain lead above the approved limit
• 50% of industrial colours have lead above the permitted limit
• Food colour, toy, candy, cosmetics, tissue, and garments industries use colours in their products

Half of the industrial colours and almost one-third of the decorative paints available in the country contain excessive amounts of lead, reveals a recent research by the Environment and Social Development Organisation (Esdo).

Up to 97,000ppm (parts per million) of lead has been found in orange colours used in industries, whereas the limit approved by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) is only 90ppm, according to the study titled "Lead in Paints: A Significant Pathway of Lead Exposure in Bangladesh," published on Wednesday.

Esdo examined 63 samples of colours of 39 national and international brands to find out the level of lead in decorative and industrial colours available in Bangladesh. Of these, 68% were industrial colours and 32% were decorative colours.

Tests showed 90-250ppm of lead in 30.8% of the decorative colours, while the remaining 69.2% had lead levels below 90ppm.

However, lead was found at alarming levels in 50% of the colours used in industries. The highest level of lead – 97,000ppm – was detected in orange colours.

Industries manufacturing food colour, toy, candy, cosmetics, tissue, and garments are most noteworthy among the industries where colours are used. Lead is likely to enter the human body if it is present at a high level in the colours used in these products.

Esdo said the containers of colours used in industries often bear the "lead-free" logo, but researchers found up to 97,000ppm of lead in them. The presence of such high levels of lead in colours used in industries is alarming.

Esdo Secretary General Dr Shahriar Hossain said, "We pose a threat to our children by poisoning them with lead-based paints used for decorating houses. If this trend continues, our future is at risk.

"To provide a healthy, safe and beautiful environment for children and to ensure the health of women, the use of lead in paint should be stopped and the implementation of existing laws should be ensured."

Technical Advisor to Esdo and ex-chairman of the BSTI's chemical department Professor Dr Mohammad Abul Hashem said, "Children in developing countries are facing serious lifelong damages due to exposure to lead present in colours. The government should take steps to ban the use of lead in colours."

Esdo Executive Director Siddiqa Sultana, said, "About 35.5 million children in Bangladesh are exposed to lead pollution. There is no safe level of lead in the blood. In order to reduce the harmful effects of lead on human health and the environment and to reduce its toxicity, it is important to find the source of lead."

In 2018, the BSTI set the tolerable level of lead used in industrial paints at 90ppm.