EPA International Cooperation on Lead Pollution

EPA aims to protect the American public from lead pollution, as outlined in EPA’s Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities in U.S. Communities.  The agency also strives to advance efforts to reduce and eliminate lead pollution in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  A growing body of evidence shows that communities in LMICs, especially underserved and vulnerable populations with children living in poverty, are disproportionately at risk for health impacts from exposures to lead paint and other lead sources. Over 800 million children globally are affected by lead pollution and exposure, with an estimated one out of every two children in low- and middle-income countries with blood lead levels of significant concern (Larsen and Sanchez-Triana, 2023).

 

EPA’s support for international cooperation to reduce lead pollution in LMICs has been long-standing and includes:

For more information see:

In 2024, the EPA collaborated with G20 members to organize a webinar hosted by the World Bank for G20 government representatives from the environment, health and development tracks and technical experts across various sectors (including health, development, and environment) to share knowledge and discuss options to prevent and reduce lead pollution and exposure in G20 countries with a focus on LMICs. Attendees included relevant stakeholders that are affected by lead pollution or active in lead pollution prevention and reduction.  A webinar report and the webinar presentations were circulated among G20 members and attendees.

 

Previously, EPA worked with Germany and the European Union to hold a G7 Expert Meeting on Concrete Actions to Address Lead Pollution and Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries on November 21, 2023. This expert meeting was convened as a follow up to the 2022 G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Communiqué and 2023 G7 Climate, Energy and Environment Ministers’ Communiqué, which signaled a strong commitment from Group of 7 (G7) Members to reduce lead in the environment, to reduce the disproportionate lead exposure in vulnerable communities and to identify actions to address lead pollution in low- and middle-income countries. A visioning document guided the discussions and is the outcome of the expert meeting. It lays out potential opportunities for future concrete action by G7 Members and others to address lead pollution and exposure in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 

EPA’s Office of International Affairs co-chairs the International Lead Exposure Working Group (ILEWG) under the Lead Subcommittee of the President’s Task Force (PTF) on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children with USAID. As part of the PTF 2024-2028 Priority Areas, the ILEWG seeks to help low- and middle-income countries establish, enhance, and implement targeted national and local prevention interventions to reduce and eliminate key lead sources and exposures. To help operationalize assistance to LMICs, the ILEWG facilitates cooperation and collaboration among U.S. Government agencies to support a host of lead reduction projects and campaigns, including the development of a UNICEF Lead Toolkit on best practices and the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (see below).

The Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (PLF) was launched at the 79th UN General Assembly and is the first-ever global public-private partnership dedicated to addressing lead exposure in LMICs from all sources. EPA joined the partnership at its launch, along with over two dozen other countries and over thirty other organizations, including the US Agency for International Development, the US Centers for Disease Control, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.  As a partner of the PLF, EPA’s activities may include promotion of development and implementation of laws and practices, sharing best practices and information and raising awareness of this issue. EPA is working actively with USAID’s Global Health Bureau to support the PLF.

On March 26, 2024, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power signed a Memorandum of Understanding that formalizes the leaders’ joint commitment to cooperate in tackling the challenges of lead pollution and poisoning, including implementation of the PLF and ILEWG priority actions. The meeting followed Administrator Regan’s mission to Africa where he reinforced EPA’s commitment by meeting with leaders, young people, and advocates to address many of these same challenges.

UNEP and EPA are conducting two consultations on lead sources and management in African countries during 2024, to be followed by a pilot project in a targeted African country to showcase lead pollution prevention efforts. The aim of these consultations is to explore the feasibility of a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach by LMIC national governments to manage sources of lead exposure. The online consultations provide opportunities to present case studies and strategies for international lead prevention efforts and include a series of panel discussions with representatives from governmental agencies and stakeholders throughout Africa to share experiences and potential solutions. 

 

The first consultation occurred in July 2024 and was attended by government and industry leaders from over thirty-five countries. The second consultation is expected to take place on November 20, 2024 and will feature speakers and case studies from Anglophone and Francophone Africa, as well as live French translation. 

• Annual International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) Campaign Website (WHO)
• Guidance on advocacy and awareness-raising (WHO)
• Policy Brief and Technical Brief on Global elimination of lead paint: why and how countries should take action (WHO)
• Video: Lead Paint Alliance: Ban Lead Paint 
• Video: Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM): Lead in Paint: Emerging Policy Issue
• Video: Chemicals & waste management: Overview of the Inter-Org. Prog. for the Sound Management of Chemicals, featuring EPA staff on lead paint

Key Milestones

September 2019:  EPA participated in a Department of Commerce-sponsored Lead Paint Elimination Workshop for the Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asian Region in Tbilisi, Georgia on September 11-12, 2019.   

March - August 2019:  EPA participated in four regional lead paint workshops organized by UN Environment as part of the Lead in Paint component of the SAICM Global Environment Facility (GEF) project, “Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)":

• Asia Pacific Regional Lead Paint Workshop in Bangkok, Thailand
• Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Workshop on Lead Paint in Panama City, Panama
• Africa Regional Workshop on Lead Paint in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire
• Central and Eastern Europe Regional Workshop in Lead Paint in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Follow up to the workshops includes identification of steps in each country to establish lead paint laws. Meeting reports and presentations from each workshop are available on the  website of the SAICM GEF project. 

December  2017: Environment ministers from around the world signaled support of lead paint laws by passing a lead paint resolution  at the Third United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-3).  

• See the entire UNEA-3 resolution here.

December 2017: EPA participated in the Caribbean Workshop on the Establishment of Legal Limits on Lead in Paint, which had 38 attendees, representing more than 20 organizations and agencies from the public, private, and civil sectors.

• Learn more: Caribbean Workshop on the Establishment of Legal Limits on Lead in Paint 

August 2017:  The American Bar Association passed a resolution encouraging its members to support adoption and implementation of laws to phase out and eliminate lead paint through pro bono support, educational initiatives, and other appropriate means.

• View ABA Resolution and Report on Lead Paint (19 pp, 350 K, About PDF) 

May 2017:  At the 70th World Health Assembly, health ministers approved action on lead paint in a Chemicals Roadmap. 

About Lead Paint

Lead exposure is a well-known source of injury to human health, particularly to the health of children and to workers in lead industries. No level of exposure to lead is considered safe. Children exposed to high levels of lead may experience sensory, motor, cognitive and behavioral impacts, including learning disabilities; attention deficits; disorders in coordination, visual, spatial and language skills; and anemia.

• Learn more about the health effects of lead exposure.

Using leaded paint creates potential lead poisoning problems for the future. Most poisoning from lead paint occurs when infants and children ingest the dust of old lead paint as it deteriorates of chips off surfaces. Thus, lead paint poses a health risk long after the initial painting is done. That is why we want to work together to make sure that no paints contain lead.

Alternatives to lead paint already exist. Although lead paint is still produced and sold in many countries around the world, a simple, cost-effective alternative exists. Paints without added lead are as effective and economically competitive as their lead counterparts. In fact, a nine-country study published by UNEP and the NGO IPEN  showed that in many places where lead paint is sold, lead free alternatives exist for similar prices. Recent paint testing (52 pp, 3M, About PDF)also shows that paints with low levels of lead are available in developing countries. Additionally, work to conduct pilot demonstrations of paint reformulation in small paint companies showed that it is feasible to reformulate paint to contain non-lead ingredients.

About the Lead Paint Alliance

The U.S. EPA is an active member, and Advisory Council Chair, of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint. The Lead Paint Alliance is a global partnership of Governments, private industry, and NGOs that works to promote the phase-out of the use of lead in paint.

The work of the Lead Paint Alliance includes raising awareness of the dangers lead poisoning poses to human health; and helping developing countries build regulations to stop the manufacture, import, and sale of paints containing lead.

The Lead Paint Alliance promoted the establishment of lead paint laws globally partially through the Lead in Paint component of the SAICM Global Environment Facility (GEF) project “Global best practices on emerging chemical policy issues of concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM)."  This project worked with governments to help establish laws and with industry to help promote reformulation of lead paint. Current efforts are building on lessons learned and progress made during this project.

As Chair of the Lead Paint Alliance Advisory Council, U.S. EPA is working to help make other nations aware of the dangers of lead paint and ways to address this problem. The Global Alliance is focusing its efforts on helping countries without existing lead paint laws put effective legislation/regulations in place.

The Alliance is a led by a joint secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and the World Health Organization (WHO). It was established at the International Conference on Chemicals Management at its second session (ICCM2) as one initiative to implement the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM). 

This initiative promotes the implementation of paragraph 57 of the Plan of Implementation of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (PDF) , which states: to phase out lead in lead-based paint and in other sources of human exposure, work to prevent, in particular, childrens exposure to lead and strengthen monitoring and surveillance efforts and the treatment of lead poisoning.