Expedite Regulatory Action to Eliminate Lead in Paints

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized 19 – 25 October 2025, as the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) to raise awareness and promote actions to address the health impacts of lead exposure, especially on children, pregnant women, and workers.

The ILPPW theme this year, “No safe level: Act now to end lead exposure” is a reminder of the unacceptable risks of lead exposure and the urgent need to protect the health of vulnerable populations, particularly children.

Among actions that should be taken to prevent lead poisoning are adopting and/or enforcing strong regulations banning lead in all paints, a well-evidenced and pervasive source of lead exposure, and by controlling the global trade of lead chromates, the most common pigments used in lead paint production, through the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure.

In conjunction with this occasion, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) and the Malaysian Paint and Coating Manufacturers’ Association (MPCMA) call on the Malaysian government to expedite regulatory measures that would eliminate lead in paint.

Since 2017 MPCMA members have pledged to eliminate lead in decorative paint by 2018 and in all paints by 2020.  In 2018, MPCMA became a partner in the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, an initiative jointly led by the WHO and the United Nations Environment Programme.

The WHO calls lead paint “a major flashpoint” for children’s potential lead poisoning and says that “since the phase-out of leaded petrol, lead paint is one of the largest sources of exposure to lead in children.” Thus, urgent measures need to be taken to reduce critical sources of lead exposure to young children, particularly lead paint.

Malaysia’s standard for lead paint in toys intended for children, mandated under the MS ISO 8124-3:2012, limits the migration of lead to no more than 90 parts per million (ppm). However, Malaysia’s measure on children’s toys provides only partial protection as it does not address domestic paints or paint in playground equipment which are likely to contribute to lead exposure.

We still find lead in enamel paint in the Malaysian market, including imported paint. In a test conducted by CAP on decorative enamel paints in 2022, we found that 20 out of 28 samples tested contained lead, of which two were found to contain more than 10,000 ppm of lead. CAP’s analysis of 31 paints in 2023 found 15 out of 31 samples contained lead.

Paints contain high levels of lead when the paint manufacturer intentionally adds one or more leaded compounds to the paint for some purpose. A paint product may also contain some amount of lead when paint ingredients contaminated with lead are used or when there is cross-contamination from other product lines in the same factory.

Lead is a cumulative toxicant that affects multiple body systems. Although lead is particularly hazardous to young children and pregnant women, it is harmful to all who are exposed.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning because they absorb 4 to 5 times as much ingested lead as adults from a given source. Moreover, children’s innate curiosity and their age-appropriate hand-to-mouth behaviour, result in their mouthing and swallowing lead-containing or lead-coated objects, such as contaminated soil or dust and flakes from decaying lead-containing paint.

Once lead enters the body, it is distributed to organs such as the brain, kidneys, liver, and bones. The body stores lead in the teeth and bones, where it accumulates over time. Lead stored in bone may be released into the blood during pregnancy, thus endangering the foetus. Undernourished children are more susceptible to lead because their bodies absorb more lead if other nutrients such as calcium or iron are lacking. As highlighted by WHO, children at highest risk are the very young (including the developing foetus) and the economically disadvantaged.

Effects of lead exposure include learning disabilities, increased risk of antisocial behaviour, reduced fertility and increased risks of renal and cardiovascular disease later in life. Besides affecting the individual, there is a cumulative impact on society as a whole.

CAP had written a letter to the Hazardous Substances Division, Department of Environment, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability to support the inclusion of lead chromate in the Rotterdam Convention. In Malaysia, lead chromate is commonly used as a pigment by the construction, automotive, coating and plastics industries as a colouring agent and corrosion inhibitor. The call is made based on the fact that lead chromate is one of the sources of lead that can be harmful to health.

In view of the dangers of lead and taking into consideration that lead paint elimination is gaining momentum globally, CAP and MPCMA call on the Malaysian government to promulgate and enforce law to eliminate lead in paint.

Without regulatory measures, Malaysia will be a dumping ground for products with high levels of lead that have been rejected by other countries. As lead has a strong and detrimental impact on children, immediate action needs to be taken to safeguard our future generation.

Mohideen Abdul Kader                                 
President
Consumers’ Association of Penang

Chee Chih Hung
Chairman
Malaysian Paint and Coating Manufacturers’ Association

Press Statement, 23 October 2025