Lead content in new decorative paints in India
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Lead content in new decorative paints in India Ashok Mohanty • Neha Budhwani • Barun Ghosh • M. Tarafdar Sanchita Chakravarty
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Received: 15 November 2012 / Accepted: 12 April 2013 / Published online: 25 April 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The paint industry in India is broadly classified into two categories: organized sector and unorganized sector. Multinational and big Indian companies form the organized sector, whereas the small- and medium-scale industries which produce paints for the local market form the unorganized sector. The present study was undertaken to determine the level of lead in decorative paints in India. A total of 148 paint samples sourced from four organized sector companies and six unorganized sector companies were analyzed for the total lead content. Results of this study reveal that 39 % of the total paints tested (n = 148) contain lead more than 300 ppm, the voluntary limit prescribed by Bureau of Indian Standards, BIS (IS 15489:2011), and 45 % of the tested paints contain lead more than 90 ppm, the US limit. Further analysis of the data indicates that only 5 % of the tested paints manufactured by organized sector companies contain lead more than 300 ppm (n = 91), whereas 93 % of the tested paints manufactured by unorganized sector companies contain lead more than 300 ppm (n = 57). Comparison with earlier reported data suggests that while organized sector companies are gradually abandoning the use of leadbased compounds in their paints, the unorganized sector companies are still adding leadbased compounds intentionally in their paints despite the potential health hazards associated with it. The maximum concentration of lead obtained was 80,350 ppm in one of the paints manufactured by an unorganized sector company. The presence of high concentration of lead in yellow and green color paints indicates that color can be a predictor of lead content in decorative paints. Keywords
Lead in paints Indian paint Organized sector Unorganized sector
A. Mohanty N. Budhwani B. Ghosh S. Chakravarty (&) Analytical Chemistry Division, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur 831007, India e-mail: [email protected] M. Tarafdar CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur 831007, India
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1 Introduction Lead poisoning through exposure to lead-containing paints is recognized as a major public health problem worldwide (Fewtrell et al. 2004; Jacobs et al. 2002; Lanphear et al. 1998; Meyer et al. 2003; Montgomery and Mathee 2005). The severity of the problem has led many countries to adopt legislation enforcing ban or restriction on the use of lead in paints intended for interior and exterior decorative use. Thus, the maximum allowable limits for total lead content in paints in different countries are USA: 90 ppm, Singapore: 600 ppm, and Australia: 1,000 ppm (Kumar and Gottesfeld 2008; US CPSC 2011). In China, the maximum allowable limit for soluble lead content in paints is 90 ppm. Contrary to this, there is no legisl
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