With the backing of the domestic paint industry, a Philippine-based nongovernment organization will be advocating for international control on the trade of lead chromates, the most common lead-based pigments, by listing lead chromates and paint products containing them under the Rotterdam Convention. The group will be working closely with the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) in this advocacy.
This was disclosed by the EcoWaste Coalition, a non-profit environmental health organization, as the group lauded the Chemical Control Order (CCO) banning lead—a potent neurotoxin causing irreversible damage to children’s brain—in the production of paints as the groundbreaking regulation marked its 10th anniversary last Saturday. Issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) on December 23, the group described the broadly supported regulation as “a splendid Christmas gift to our children” upon its release 10 years ago. Also referred to as DENR Administrative Order N