At the corner of Sei Batanghari Road in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra Province, Indonesia, kindergarten students run around the building in school uniforms. The bell to call them back to class hasn't ringed yet. Most children are enjoying the playground slides and swings. Almost all the rides are painted in bright primary colors: yellow and red, blue and green. In their classrooms, tables and chairs are also painted in bright colors.

A similar scene was staged in the nearby Beringjin Park. In front of the governor’s office, more children were playing on playground equipment provided by the local government. Most of the equipment here is also painted with bright red, yellow and blue paint.

Medan is not unique in this respect. Many cities provide brightly colored public facilities for children. But in Indonesia, according to a new study, these colors of paint are designed to make things look more suitable for children, but they actually pose a greater threat to children’s health. According to a new study, in Indonesia Most paints produced and used, especially the brightly colored types used around children, contain dangerously high concentrations of lead.

The research was jointly completed by the Nexus3 Foundation (an Indonesian non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the public from environmental toxins) and the International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN). It found that most wood and metal paints in Indonesia still contain high levels of lead, many of which contain more than 600 ppm, which is the regulatory safety limit.

Heavy metals such as lead are especially toxic to children. Exposure can damage the brain and nervous system, slow growth and development, and cause learning and behavior problems, all of which can lead to a decrease in IQ.

It is estimated that about 33 million school-age children in Indonesia are exposed to lead-containing paint every day, usually in environments where children also eat such as schools and playgrounds, which makes the risk of accidental ingestion or exposure greater, according to research.

Yuyun Ismawati, senior consultant of Nexus3, said that they tested 120 cans of paint from various brands of construction supplies stores in the 10 largest cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Bandung, and Japan. Jalan, Surabaya, Sidoarjo and Denpasar.

Among the 120 paints they tested, 101 were solvent-based, 8 were water-based, 3 were anti-rust paints, 3 were spray paints, and 5 were industrial-grade paints for road markings.

“The paints included in the research sample consisted of 66 brands produced by 47 manufacturers. Among 120 paints, we found that 78% of them were domestically produced, 4% were locally produced, and 18% were produced by multinational companies. They are all randomly selected," Yuyun said in an online discussion about the report.

Nexus3 painted all of their paint samples on wood, let them dry for three days, then sealed them, and then shipped them to the SGS Forensic Laboratory in San Francisco, which specializes in analyzing lead content.

Their laboratory test results found that 39% of paint samples had a lead content of more than 10,000 ppm, far exceeding the 600 ppm limit set by the Indonesian National Standard (SNI). SNI is the minimum regulatory standard that all commercial products in Indonesia should meet before being sold to the public.

The other 29% of the paint they sampled contained lead content between 600 ppm and 10,000 ppm, and 5% lead content was between 90 ppm and 600 ppm. Only 27% of the samples contained lead content below the 90 ppm limit set by the World Health Organization.

Yuyun said that some of the lead content in bright primary paints is the highest level detected in the laboratory. The most dangerous paint color is orange, with 91% of orange samples containing more than 10,000 ppm of lead. Similar high levels were found in 57% of green samples, 55% of yellow samples, and 18% of red samples.

"Paints with bright colors and high lead content are widely used in children's facilities and public places," Yuyun said. "Bright colors are good for stimulating children's thinking. But if the paint used contains high concentrations of lead, it will also have a very adverse effect on the child's brain development."

Indonesia has not yet enacted a legally binding regulation banning the use of lead in paint production. Current national standards allow up to 600 ppm of lead in organic solvent-based decorative paints sold to consumers.

"We hope that paint companies that are still producing lead paint can transition to water-based paint products, which are more environmentally friendly and safer for the health of people, especially children," Yuyun said.

Dr. Andika Pratama, a pulmonologist at the University of North Sumatra Teaching Hospital, explained that lead is a heavy metal that is very dangerous to human health. He said that heavy metals can cause nervous system disorders, which can lead to decreased nervous system responses, depression and loss of appetite.

Lead has also been shown to cause long-term reduction in children's IQ and systemic diseases, such as gastrointestinal disease, abdominal pain, constipation, and increased blood pressure. He said that lead can also cause bone disease because it interferes with the function of calcium.

Dr. Andika said that sudden exposure to large amounts of lead, such as accidental ingestion, can quickly cause clinical symptoms such as fever, shortness of breath and even respiratory failure. But over time, most children's contact methods are small. This contact can interfere with the production of red blood cells and impair the child's neurodevelopment.

"These symptoms sometimes escape the attention of parents because the effects of lead are not as visible to the naked eye as other diseases," said Dr. Andica. "This is why parents need to be educated about these symptoms."

Fajiri Fadila, the head of the pollution and environmental damage control department of the Indonesian Environmental Law Center, a non-profit organization, said that according to the analysis of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the cost burden of Asian countries is reduced every year due to exposure to lead paint. The IQ value is close to 700 billion U.S. dollars.

Fajri pointed out that the United States has long been committed to eliminating lead in homes and spends billions of dollars each year on eliminating lead in buildings. "This is not a big expense," Fajiri said.

He said that the lead flowing into Indonesia started with foreign raw material lead suppliers, and the raw material lead was sent to paint manufacturers and then sold to distributors who sold paint to paint manufacturers.

Fajri said that Indonesia needs to formulate regulations prohibiting the trade of lead-based paint. He said that such a regulation will benefit public health and paint manufacturers themselves, because it will prevent competitors from using lead as a way to reduce production costs.

Fajri also urged President Joko Widodo to use executive power to issue a regulation requiring information about lead content to be placed on paint packages so that the public can make informed decisions.

The Indonesian government still relies heavily on the coatings industry to formulate manufacturing regulations and monitoring standards.

According to Markus Winarto, secretary general of the Indonesian Paint Manufacturers Association (APCI), paint companies are still producing lead paint for a variety of reasons. One of them is that lead paint is cheaper and more durable than water-based paint.

"It is weather resistant and the production process is easier. Most importantly, there is still demand in the market," Marcus said.

He said that current regulations allow organic solvent-based paints to contain up to 600 ppm of lead, but added that APCI is working to revise this number to 90 ppm, which will comply with WHO standards.

However, Marcus said that this is still to be discussed by members of the association. He said it is difficult for smaller manufacturers to meet stricter standards. Markus also pointed out that many of the smaller paint manufacturers in Indonesia are not members of the association, which makes the implementation of the standard difficult.

Nexus3 pointed out in its report that samples collected from 32 public playgrounds in the capital Jakarta were found to contain lead paint, some of which contained lead content as high as 100,000 ppm.

The Deputy Governor of Jakarta, Ahmad Riza Patria, responded to media reports, saying that the current government only uses international standard paint for children’s facilities, and any paint with a high lead content will be used. From previous governments. He said that efforts will be made to remove lead from the old facilities.

Indonesia is one of many countries where public health advocates are pushing to ban and restrict lead paint. According to the United Nations, 79 countries have enacted legally binding regulations to restrict the production, import and sales of lead paint, accounting for only 41% of all countries.

The Global Alliance for the Elimination of Lead Paints is a partnership between UNEP and WHO. It is one of many organizations dedicated to the adoption of lead paint regulations in countries around the world and the eventual elimination of all lead paints.

This story is published with permission from Mongabay.com.

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