Madagascar Bans Polluting Paints
Photo © David Pisnoy/ Unsplash.
Madagascar is the latest African country to limit the sale of paints containing unsafe amounts of lead, a harmful heavy metal.
The new standard by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development outlaws paints with lead concentrations higher than 90 parts per million (ppm).
This is according to the latest update of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in paints, a partnership of governments, businesses and civil society campaigning against lead-based paints.
“The Malagasy public is not aware of the impact of lead paints on health and the environment. Public education will accompany the enforcement of the new standard for paints,“ said Rila Albani Rakotomanana, the Ministry’s Head of the Pollution and Chemicals Unit said in a...