Study: Some Paints in Asia Pose High Risk

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Some paints in Malaysia, China and India contain dangerously high levels of lead, as much as 300 times the legal limit in the United States, presenting a health risk to children, researchers said Friday.

With safer substitutes readily available, researchers from the University of Cincinnati in the state of Ohio called for better regulation of, or a worldwide ban on the sale of lead-based paints.

"There is a clear discrepancy in product safety outside the United States," said professor Scott Clark who led the study published in the September issue of Environmental Research, a peer-reviewed journal.

"In today's global economy, it would be irresponsible for us to ignore the public health threat for the citizens in the offending countries - as well as the countries they do business with."

In 1978, the United States introduced regulations restricting lead content in paint to 600 parts per million after studies showed that children who eat or breathe in flaking paint chips or dust can suffer brain damage and other health problems.

But Clark said he found paint containing dangerously high levels of lead easily available in hardware stores in Malaysia, China and India.

About 50 percent of the paint sold in China, India and Malaysia has lead levels 30 times higher than is permitted in the U.S., although some had as much as 300 times the American limit. Other surveys found similar levels of lead in paints in Indonesia, Peru and the Seychelles, Clark said.

In Singapore, where lead levels in paint are supposed to be held to the same standards as in the United States, about 10 percent contained too much of the metal, the study found.

"Lead-based paints have already poisoned millions of children in the United States and will likely cause similar damage in the future as paint use increases in Asian countries and elsewhere," he said. "Our findings provide stark evidence of the urgent need for an effective worldwide ban on the use of lead-based paint."Telephones weren't answered Friday at the China Coating Industry Association and China's State Administration for Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Clark said his findings also underline the fact that Asian products decorated with lead paint are increasingly being sold in America. In recent years, products ranging from Chinese toys to Indian jewelry have been pulled from U.S. department store shelves because they contained dangerous levels of lead.

Clark's team sampled 80 paints in the four countries over two years. The countries were chosen at random.