More than two-thirds of the paint sold in Taiwan contain excessively high levels of lead by Singaporean and US standards, environmentalists and legislators said.
The Taiwan Watch Institute last week said that 31 out of 47 paint products it tested had lead levels higher than Singapore’s limit of 600 parts per million (ppm), while 36 paint products had lead levels higher than the US’ limit of 90ppm.
Twenty-two products had lead levels of more than 10,000ppm, and lead concentration in a corrosion-resistant paint marketed under the brand name Rainbow Paints (虹牌油漆) was as high as 440,000ppm — hundreds of times higher than international standards, researcher Sun Wei-tzu (孫瑋孜) said.
Taiwan has no regulation limiting lead content in paint.
“Paint can have scarily high lead content because there is no limit on heavy metals in paints used in buildings and furniture. While there is a set of recommendations, the standards do not have any legally binding force,” institute secretary-general Herlin Hsieh (謝和霖) said.
The institute also tested paint on park facilities and playground equipment, and found that eight of the 10 tested samples had lead levels of more than 600ppm, as well as high levels of chromium and arsenic, exposing the public — especially children — to the risks of heavy metal poisoning.
“Blood lead levels of more than 5 parts per billion can cause irreversible nervous system damage in children, leading to attention deficit disorder and lower intelligence. There are 200,000 students with attention deficit disorders in Taiwan, which could be associated with lead exposure,” Chang Gung University toxicology professor Lin Chung-yin (林中英) said.
Officials at the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection — the authority in charge of coating materials — said they are mulling a limit on lead content in paint in accordance with international standards “if there are international standards for it.”
“Most industrialized countries have standards for lead paints, so do many Southeastern Asian countries. Singapore and Sri Lanka established a 600ppm limit a few years ago. The Philippines and Nepal set the limit at 90ppm. Thailand this year set the limit at 100pm. There are international standards, but the bureau does not seem to be aware of them,” Sun said.
“A public hearing on the issue was held last year, and the bureau promised to establish standards for heavy metals in paint, but six months have passed and it is still studying international standards,” Hsieh said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Kun-yuh (吳焜裕) said lawmakers are expected to propose a draft regulation in two months to limit lead levels in paint to less than 90ppm.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS