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.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS