The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has urged paint manufacturers and importers to replace lead-based ingredients with safer alternatives to protect public health.
The Authority said continued use of lead-based paint posed serious health risks, particularly to children, and called for increased compliance with safer production standards.
Lovelace Sarpong, Deputy Director of the Chemical Control and Management Centre of the EPA, made the call at a national stakeholder engagement and advocacy workshop on lead in paints in Accra.
He said alternatives such as titanium and zinc had similar properties to lead but were less harmful, urging more industry players to adopt them.
“Some industrial players are using the alternative so I urged the rest to follow the example to protect the public,” he said.
Sarpong said some importers remained unaware of the health risks associated with the products they brought into the country.
“Some importers find a cheap product and bring it to Ghana to sell. We are raising awareness that irrespective of how cheap it is, it is toxic. You cannot place a cost on health.”he stated.
Sarpong said Ghana had a standard limiting lead content in paint to 90 parts per million but lacked legislation to enforce the requirement.
He said a draft regulation had been prepared and was expected to be presented to Parliament before the end of the year.
A survey conducted by the Ghana Health Service and UNICEF found that one out of every two children under five years in Ghana had blood lead levels exceeding World Health Organisation limits.
Dr Emmanuel Kyeremateng-Amoah, UNICEF Health Specialist, said children were particularly vulnerable when lead paint peeled from walls, as some could pick up and ingest the flakes.
“There is no safe level of lead in the human body. Even the smallest amount can begin damaging the developing organs of children, causing brain damage, reduced intelligence, impaired learning, anaemia, kidney disease, and heart problems that last a lifetime,” he said.
Lead exposure could also occur when the substance was transmitted from a pregnant woman to her unborn child.
Dr Caesar Nyadedzor, Head of the Poison Control Unit of the Ghana Health Service, said stakeholders were finalising standard treatment guidelines for managing lead exposure and poisoning.
He said the guidelines would provide health workers with clear procedures for identifying and treating cases of lead exposure and poisoning.
“The document specifies what tests should be carried out to identify and confirm lead poisoning, what treatment options, both medical and non-medical, should be offered at different levels of care, and what equipment and facilities are needed at various points within the health system,” he noted.
The guidelines would also guide decision-makers on the equipment and resources required at various levels of the health system.
Source: GNA
