The document summarizes a recent forum held in Kenya on exploring paint safety beyond the can. Representatives from government agencies, industry, academia, and civil society convened to discuss establishing a national standard for allowable lead limits in paint of 90ppm, as levels as high as 15,000ppm had been documented in Kenyan paint. The forum aimed to increase awareness of the health and environmental impacts of lead and other chemicals in paint that can cause issues like occupational asthma and neurological disorders. A key outcome was Mombasa County joining the lead alliance to work on shifting to truly lead-free paints in Kenya.

1. 33 PPCJ • Month 2016
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LEAD REPORT
Concerned about safety? Kenya’s lead alliance
is a big relief for the paint industry
Daniel Maina, CEO, Eco Ethics Kenya,
organiser of a recent forum, held on October
29, as part of the 4th National Lead Poisoning
Prevention Week of Action, provides his
review of the event.
‘Let there be light’, mythical but perhaps
the greatest rationale for paint. Colour is the
spark of divine in all that is alive, deep and
happy. It has been my personal effort to see
that the possession of colour not only fulfils
the perceptions of health but the realities as
well. Kenya is a critical hub for paint in the
Sub-Saharan Africa and efforts to amend
paint quality could see more than 150M
beneficiaries. In a region where architectural
paint is driven by the middle-class,
chemical and structural superiority of paint,
cost-effectiveness, possibilities for DIY and
considerations for user and ecosystem
safety, come to bear.
The 4th National Lead Poisoning
Prevention Week of Action was such
a forum, where communities around
the world, in our case Kenya, sought to
interrogate the role paint could play in
lowering lead exposure. Participants drawn
from state agencies, government ministries,
academia, industry and the civil society,
converged at the Mombasa Technical
Training Institute on October 29 to seek
alternatives and allowable limits for lead in
pigments and dryers. Indeed, levels as high
as 15,000 parts per million (ppm) had been
documented in Kenyan paint against WHO
recommendations of 90ppm. Establishing
a national standard using the 90ppm as a
reference, provides a strong incentive for
shifting technology and attitudes towards
truly lead-free paints.
Lead in paint has the most devastating
impacts on children under six years of age;
studies cite its role in the death of 143,000
and learning disabilities in more than
600,000 children each year, globally. A lot
more cases go unreported in developing
countries due to lack of awareness and
data. The impacts could be worse. Lead
and other substances in paint, such
as volatile organic compounds (VOCs),
isocynates and other heavy metals, such
as cobalt are a major cause of occupational
asthma, kidney failure, lung damage and
a spectra of neurological disorders. Poor
practices in handling paint are responsible
for falls from heights, fire accidents, spills,
skin and eye irritation. To encapsulate these
diverse concerns we chose to run our event
under the theme ‘Exploring Paint Safety
Beyond The Can’.
The week of action took advantage
of social media, TV and radio, flyers,
dances, speeches and word of mouth,
to disseminate our message to more
than 250,000 members of the public,
particularly, paint manufacturers, artisans,
home owners, estate developers,
building contractors, public health and
environmental agencies, and consumer
safety groups. One of the key outcomes
was the initiation of the Mombasa County
into the lead alliance. This year’s event
was organised by the University of Nairobi
(UoN), Kenya Industrial Research and
Development Institute (KIRDI), Eco Ethics
Kenya and the Mombasa Technical Training
Institute (MTTI). Our main sponsor was
Crown Paint Kenya Limited.
PPCJ
Applications Lead Feb.indd 1 17/11/2016 12:42