DENR bans lead in local products

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-7 has banned the use of lead and its compounds in the local production of consumer products.

Through its Environmental Management Bureau, the DENR-7 is also strictly monitoring its importation, sale, distribution and disposal following the issuance of a chemical control order  for lead and lead compounds.

Under the Department’s Administrative Order No. 2013-24 approved by DENR Secretary Ramon JP Paje last Dec. 23, 2013, it strictly prohibits the use of lead and its compounds in the local manufacture of packaging for food and drinks, toys, school supplies, cosmetics, water pipes and other consumer products.

Isabelo Montejo, DENR-7 regional executive director, said that the said order reiterates the ban on the use of lead as fuel additive and supports the global action to eliminate lead in paints.

“We would want to protect human health as well as the environment from these hazardous wastes and we want to make sure that labeling, manufacturing and training, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of lead and lead-containing materials are in place,” said Montejo in a press statement.

Lead, a heavy metal and a highly toxic chemical, could impair the development of children as well as the cardiovascular, reproductive and immune systems. It could also damage the kidneys, hearing loss and tooth decay.

The order has also set the standard content of lead for locally produced paints at 90 parts per million (ppm), as well as the timeframe for the strict implementation of the standard which starts in 2016 for paints intended for architectural, decorative, household applications while paints for industrial applications, starts in 2019.

He said that this will gradually enable the paint industry to shift in producing lead-free paints.

Montejo added the new regulation on lead is consistent with Republic Act No. 6969, otherwise known as the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, as it also addresses the transport and treatment of lead-containing wastes prior to disposal.

RA 6969 was issued by the government in response to the Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.— /GMR (FREEMAN)