Protecting Children Around the World from the Dangers of Lead Paint

October 27, 2022

The first time I really thought about lead paint, I was in Mexico with my family. I had a toddling baby, and my older son kept anxiously pointing out the chipping paint along the docks and outdoor attractions we visited. Having just started working on the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (also known as the Lead Paint Alliance), I had taught him how dangerous lead paint can be to young children, and he was keeping an eye out for his baby brother.

He had good reason to be concerned. Children who eat flakes of lead paint or get dust from lead paint in their mouths can develop lead poisoning. While lead is toxic to multiple body systems, exposing children to lead is especially dangerous to their developing brains. Exposure can result in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ) and attention span, impaired learning ability, and increased risk of behavioral problems. It is often the poorest children who are the most severely affected by lead exposure. These children are more likely to live in areas where exposure risks are higher, and health services that help monitor, treat and prevent exposure are less available.

While the United States banned lead in paint in the 1970s, more than half of the countries in the world still allow the manufacture and sale of paint with high levels of lead. But getting lead out of paint is an achievable goal! Working in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Health Organization, and many other stakeholders in civil society and industry, the Lead Paint Alliance is working to support countries in establishing laws and companies to change their paint formulations.  

There is no known safe level of lead exposure without harmful effects, and even low levels of lead exposure may cause lifelong health problems.

As Chair of the Advisory Council for the Lead Paint Alliance, our EPA team has taken a leadership role in supporting efforts to address lead in paint. We supported the development of a Model Law and Guidance for Regulating Lead Paint, to assist countries in establishing and implementing regulations on lead paint. I recently led a process for updating the Toolkit for Establishing Law to Eliminate Lead Paint. This toolkit provides important information that governments, industry and civil society can use to learn about the impacts of lead exposure, how to test for lead in paint and blood, and best practices for the development of lead paint laws. EPA also plays a significant leadership role in the Multi-Stakeholder Coordinating Team for the Lead in Paint Community of Practice, which brings together practitioners from across the world working on different aspects of addressing the lead paint problem.

Our EPA team played key roles in a 2019-2022 project funded by the Global Environment Facility, which supported 21 countries in adopting lead paint laws, and 19 countries in reaching the final stages of drafting lead paint laws. Additionally, 25 paint producers in seven countries completed paint reformulation pilots and are now able to produce paint without adding lead. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) also published Lead Paint Reformulation Technical Guidelines, supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in their efforts to reformulate their paint. Because of these pivotal projects,  according to the WHO Global Health Observatory on legally-binding controls on lead paint, as of today a total of 88 countries have laws banning lead paint!

But paint isn’t the only source of possible lead exposure. That’s why at their meeting this year in May, the G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers recognized lead pollution as a burden on human health and the environment globally. They expressed a strong commitment to reduce lead in the environment and to reduce the disproportionate lead exposure in vulnerable communities. Next month, a technical G7 workshop on this issue will be co-hosted by the EU and the United States under the German Presidency, to develop possible options for future work and cooperation to reduce sources of lead and minimize lead exposure in developing countries.  EPA is once again leading as we prepare for this important meeting and the work to follow.

This week is the 10th annual International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, with the theme of “Say No to Lead Poisoning.” Organizations and governments around the world are using customizable materials to plan ILPPW activities and share the messages on social media – and you can, too! There is even a social media post builder with unique graphics to share on a range of social media platforms.

I’m proud to be part of EPA’s work helping countries ban lead in paint, to protect the health of children around the world. I hope you’ll join me this week in sharing information and materials about how we can protect vulnerable children around the world from the dangers of lead paint.

About the Author

Evonne Marzouk
Team Member, EPA International Lead Paint
Office of International and Tribal Affairs

Evonne Marzouk began work for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1999. During her career at EPA, she has played key roles in work on the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint. She founded and was the former director of an organization focused on what Jewish tradition says about protecting the environment and writes regularly on environmental and Jewish topics.