The advocacy group Ecowaste Coalition has found “dangerously high” levels of potentially toxic lead-containing paints in several reusable water bottles and tumblers bought online and in select retail stores in Metro Manila and neighboring areas, ABS-CBN News reported.
Ecowaste said in a release Tuesday that it purchased sample reusable water bottles from online sellers and physical shops in Caloocan City, City of Manila, Quezon City, Antipolo City, and Teresa in Rizal between July to October 2024.
They were sold at P145 to P289 each.
Ecowaste said 15 of the reusable steel water bottles it bought had lead above the 90 parts per million (ppm) limit set by the government on their exterior coatings.
Ten water bottles contained “dangerously high” levels of lead above 10,000 ppm, and one of them had over 100,000 ppm lead, it said.
Meanwhile, lead was not detected in the other 15 samples. Ecowaste said this means water bottles and tumblers could be decorated with paints that would not result in lead exposure.
Ecowaste said that some of the products analyzed were decorated with cartoon characters, indicating that they were marketed for children’s use. None of the products had lead hazard warnings.
The presence of lead on the coatings of the reusable water bottles is “very disturbing,” Ecowaste said, noting that the paint could deteriorate with repeated use and could be swallowed by children who are unaware of its health risks.
“Lead is toxic if ingested and can cause adverse health problems,” the group said, adding that according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), lead is “responsible for nearly 1.5 percent of annual global deaths – almost as many deaths as from HIV and AIDS, and more than from malaria.”
Ecowaste is also calling on the authorities to enforce the country’s lead paint standards in reusable water bottles and tumblers being sold in the market.
The group urged the government to identify the regulatory agency tasked to implement the said standards and remove non-compliant products from the market, including those from online shopping sites.
