Penn faculty co-author paper calling for worldwide ban of lead paint

Penn faculty co-authored a paper from the United Nations Environment Programme calling for the worldwide ban of lead paint.

Department of Earth and Environmental Science's Reto Gieré and Richard Pepino, and Perelman School of Medicine's. Marilyn Howarth published the Foresight Brief calling for the end of production and use of lead paint to prevent lead poisoning, which is the cause of over a million deaths each year.

Although the United States and many other countries have banned lead-based paints for residential use, 60% of all countries still permit the use of lead paint, Penn Today reported.

“Stopping the use of lead paint is one of the easiest problems to take care of, and at the same time lead paints remains one of the primary sources of lead exposure, especially for kids. It is urgent that every country has a law banning its use,” Gieré told Penn Today.

Lead paint has been shown to cause severe harm to children, but it remains largely unregulated in developing countries, Penn Today reported. Moving away from lead paint could have a huge public health impact, the authors wrote.

In 2020, Penn joined the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, which is run by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. The alliance works to encourage nations to take action against lead threats, Penn Today reported.

The authors hope that their paper reaches key policymakers, industry leaders, and health and environmental professionals who can help encourage governments to introduce and enforce new laws regarding lead paint, Penn Today reported.

“Governments are starting to recognize the problem and are jumping on the bandwagon," Gieré told Penn Today. "This is a call for them to act, and they have to be willing to introduce legislation.”