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.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition