Lead might give red, yellow and white paints their bright hues and be cheaper to use than alternatives, but concerns remains about the health risks of lead poisoning, particularly in the developing world.
As the United Nations launches a week of action against lead poisoning, the manufacturer of Dulux paint has today called on its industry to voluntarily ban lead compounds from its supply chain.
Some firms have already started to develop lead-free alternative paints, but AkzoNobel believes it is the only paint company in the world to have a blanket ban on lead from its products. In 2011, it produced its last drop of paint containing lead and now only uses safer lead-free alternatives.
However, the rest of the industry has so far resisted calls to phase out lead entirely, despite the proven health risks associated with the material - lead poisoning has been blamed for 0.6 per cent of the global burden of disease and is said to result in 600,000 new cases of learning difficulties in children each year. Earlier this month, the International Paint and Printing Ink Council (IPPIC) issued a statement effectively saying it is working to comply with any legislation, but is also reluctant to take a lead on the issue.
The European Union is already on track to ban all lead compounds from June 2015, after it was labelled as a material of "high concern" under the REACH chemical regulations.
But Julian Hunter, regulatory affairs manager for AkzoNobel, argues that companies should be taking a more proactive approach in order to anticipate new chemicals rules coming into effect around the globe.
Last week AkzoNobel wrote to all the trade associations of which it is a member asking to discuss the prospects for a voluntary industry agreement to phase out lead. The move included letters to the IPPIC and the coatings associations representing Britain, Europe and America.
"As paint manufacturers we all have a responsibility to take care for the people who come into contact with our products and the environment in which they are used," the letter states. "Given effective alternatives are available, we do not believe that continued use of coatings containing lead compounds is compatible with Coatings Care, Product Stewardship or the Sustainability aspirations of our industry. Therefore in our opinion continued use of lead compounds in paint is now unacceptable to society."
Hunter told BusinessGreen that AkzoNobel's company ban has already removed 300 tonnes of lead compounds per year from its products, adding that an industry-wide voluntary ban could have a major impact on global health.
"We believe that if all the companies in the world followed our example, the environment would be saved from hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of lead," Hunter told BusinessGreen. "We're saying we'd like to take a more proactive lead and lead by example, we could do this quite quickly as the alternatives to lead pigments and driers are available, you can buy them off the shelf from suppliers and suppliers will tell you how to formulate with them, so it's not rocket science. All paint companies have good lab chemists on their staff who should be able to formulate products that don't use lead compounds in them."
The cost of such a transition is inevitably the main barrier to the adoption of a global ban, as safer alternatives to lead-based paints tend to be more expensive. But Hunter reckons the price of cleaner raw materials would fall if an industry-wide ban was enacted.
AkzoNobel is one of the largest paint companies in the world, but it remains to be seen whether it can encourage its peers to embrace its lead-free push. Since writing the letter, the company said it has only received one response - the British Coatings Association said that it would consult with its members about the proposal.
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