Lead paint found in BMA schools
Paints containing lead pose a health threat to more than half of the children in pre-kindergarten nursery schools in Bangkok, researchers said yesterday at a seminar by the Child Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Centre.
The survey, conducted in 2010, found lead-based paint in the nursery schools run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administra-tion, putting more than 50 per cent of the city’s pre-kindergarten children at risk, centre director Assoc Prof Adisak Phalitpholkarn-phim said. He recommended that pre-kindergarten students undergo blood tests.
The production and sale of lead-based household paint should be more tightly regulated, the study urged.
Phetcharat Eksaengkul, head of the paint industry group, supported findings of the study, but said there should be stricter control on imports of raw materials that contain lead before clamping down on domestic paint production.
Young children are most vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can cause mental retardation. The World Health Organisation maintains that “no exposure to lead contamination, however small the level, is safe for children”.