Armenian non-governmental organizations are going to jointly appeal to the Eurasian Development Bank, RA Urban Development Committee and the importing companies, proposing to exclude the use of paints with high concentration of lead in Armenia. The decision to this effect was made during a round table discussion organized by NGO "Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment" on October 28 within the framework of "The Tenth International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week". Civil society representatives and journalists participated in this discussion.
"We are preparing to apply to the Eurasian Development Bank to exclude the use of dangerous paints during renovations in schools and kindergartens and other children's facilities. Another letter will be sent to Urban Development Committee to control the use of dangerous paints during renovation and reconstruction," Qnarik Grigoryan noted, an expert at AWHHE. With another proposal, it was decided to enter into negotiations with the importing companies, offering to import safer paints from EU member states. She noted that the lead concentration in paints is lower in EU member states.
Meanwhile, paint is imported into Armenia from the countries where the lead concentration in paint is very high - 5000 ppm.
Lead is a powerful poison that affects many body systems and is especially harmful to young children.
Yelena Manvelyan, President of "Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment" NGO, noted that today WHO has officially included mental retardation among diseases as a result of lead exposure.
The study showed that there is a large amount of imported household paints in the Armenian market. The lead concentration was higher than the international permissible lead concentration (90 ppm) in 59% of the tested samples of household paints, in 29 out of 49 samples, Qnarik Grigoryan noted.
November 02, 2022 at 17:46