Warning Out on Cute but Toxic Winnie the Pooh Water Tumbler
18 August 2024, Quezon City. The toxics watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition sounded the alarm over a cute Winnie the Pooh stainless steel water tumbler that contains excessive levels of lead, violating the country’s ban on lead-containing paints.
As part of its sustained campaign to raise awareness about the toxicity of lead and promote measures that will protect children from lead exposure, the EcoWaste Coalition purchased a new yellow tumbler decorated with the adorable Winnie the Pooh and had it screened for lead. The group obtained the product for P275 from a retail store in Quezon City.
Using a point-and-shoot X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device, the group detected 33,630 parts per million (ppm) of lead in the yellow paint on the outside of the Winnie the Pooh tumbler. A similar tumbler that it previously bought from a retailer in Manila City also contained lead measured at 31,2420 ppm.
The internationally acclaimed Chemical Control Order (CCO) for lead and its compounds issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) established a strict 90 ppm limit for lead in paints and similar surface coatings. The adoption of the CCO in 2013 paved the way for the phase-out of lead-containing decorative and industrial paints in December 2016 and December 2019, respectively.
A memorandum circular issued by the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau affirmed the mandatory use of paints without added lead in the manufacture of toys and related children’s products after the December 2016 phase-out deadline for lead-containing decorative paints.
The EcoWaste Coalition called for the removal of the said Winnie the Pooh tumbler as the level of lead found on its yellow paint is a clear violation of the country’s lead paint standard, which the group and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) championed during the policy deliberations.
The exterior paint will chip over time with repeated use of the tumbler. The lead on the paint may end up being ingested by the user, especially by a child who is unaware of the health risk, the EcoWaste Coalition pointed out.
To halt the proliferation of the toxic Winnie the Pooh tumbler, the EcoWaste Coalition urged the authorities to stop its further distribution and sale across the country. The importer and/or distributor of the product should also be identified and held accountable for the product recall.
Lead and its compounds belong to the DENR’s Priority Chemicals List and the World Health Organization’s list of 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.
According to the WHO, “lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure to lead the brain and central nervous system can be severely damaged causing coma, convulsions, and even death. Children who survive severe lead poisoning may be left with permanent intellectual disability and behavioral disorders.”
“At lower levels of exposure that cause no obvious symptoms, lead is now known to produce a spectrum of injury across multiple body systems. In particular, lead can affect children’s brain development, resulting in reduced intelligence quotient (IQ), behavioral changes such as reduced attention span and increased antisocial behavior, and reduced educational attainment,” the WHO explained.
The EcoWaste Coalition is campaigning for a comprehensive ban on hazardous chemicals in toys, school supplies and other children’s products, and for such products to be duly tested and labeled to protect children from toxic exposures. The group is also pushing for the mandatory disclosure of chemicals in product (CiP) information to enable consumers to make sound non-toxic purchasing decisions. (PR)
Reference:
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/DAO-2013-24-CCO-Lead.pdf
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/MC-2016-010.pd
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health
