China-made Paints Manufactured in March 2025 Found Non-compliant with Regulations

11 June 2025, Quezon City.  The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition has stumbled upon lead-containing spray paints made in China and sold locally, which are ironically labeled as compliant with the European Union’s chemical regulations.

While doing its periodic sampling of school supplies, the group came across cans of Aeropak Spray Paint neatly arranged on the shelf of a chain store’s branch in Pasay City.  Sold for P85 per 400 mL can, the imported leaded paints were manufactured on March 27, 2025 (the Philippines completed the phase-out of lead-containing paints on December 31, 2019).


Based on the chemical screening performed by the EcoWaste Coalition using an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device on the dry paint samples, the medium yellow, yellow, leaf green and gem green colors of Aeropak Spray Paint contained 78,000 parts per million (ppm); 52,010 ppm; 29,730 ppm; and 1,211 ppm of lead, respectively.  Lead was not detected on the gold, deep red and orange-red colors.


From 2020 to date, the group has discovered 213 imported aerosol paints sold in the domestic market with lead concentrations exceeding the maximum limit of 90 ppm. However, this is the first time that it has sampled products with markings insinuating compliance with EU chemical regulations.

The all-purpose Aeropak Spray Paint claims it is compliant with the regional bloc’s principal chemical regulations, namely: 1) the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and 2) the Restriction on Hazardous Substances  (RoHS).

While the label suggests compliance with REACH and RoHS, the EcoWaste Coalition found the four variants of Aeropak Spray Paint loaded with lead in violation of the said chemical regulations.


REACH, in particular, imposes restrictions on some lead compounds used in paints such as lead carbonate and lead sulphate, and bans their sale on the market.  It further requires authorization procedure for the use of other lead compounds such as lead chromate, lead sulfochromate yellow, lead chromate molybdate sulfate red, and lead di(acetate).

The importation, distribution, and sale of the above paints in the Philippines will also be in violation of the country’s lead paint regulation as contained in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 2013-24.

Also known as the Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds, this groundbreaking regulation prohibits the use of lead in the production of paints and provides for a 90 ppm total lead as the maximum limit.

The said order further provides for the phase-out of lead-containing paints and similar surface coatings from 2013 to 2016 for leaded decorative paints and from 2013-2019 for leaded industrial paints.

According to the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), which counts on the EcoWaste Coalition among its partners in the campaign to eliminate lead paints, “exposure to lead is extremely harmful to children and adults – the health effects are generally irreversible and can have lifelong impact.  Most vulnerable are unborn fetuses, and a pregnant woman who can transfer lead to her developing child.”

“Exposure to lead can harm human health and even small amounts can damage a child’s neurological development, causing learning difficulties and behavioral problems,” stated IPEN.  “Lead in paint is one of the many serious sources of childhood lead exposure.”

To protect the health of children and other vulnerable groups from the harmful effects of lead exposure, the EcoWaste Coalition repeated the following calls to action:

1. For paint manufacturers in all countries to stop the use of lead-based raw materials;
2. For paint importers, distributors, and retailers to require certificates of conformity with the 90 ppm total lead content limit from manufacturers and traders;
3. For paint stores to only offer compliant and adequately labeled paint products; and,
4. For paint consumers to shun leaded paints and to seek out lead-safe products.

The EcoWaste Coalition has already notified the local distributor of Aeropak Spray Paint, requesting it to immediately pull out and return the non-compliant products to their source for environmentally sound disposal.

References:
https://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/36927/ELLLPEUEMHi.pdf
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DAO-2013-24-CCO-Lead.pdf
https://www.ipen.org/toxic-priorities/lead