EcoWaste Coalition Pushes for Toxic-Free Play Environment for Kids This Summer
As the country’s
youth and children embrace the summer vacation with gusto, a public interest
group reminded parents to watch out for potential sources of lead exposure in
the outdoor play environments.
The EcoWaste Coalition, a toxics watch group, drew attention to possible
sources of childhood lead exposure as young people make the best of the summer
break by playing outdoor games.
“Playing outside has many health and developmental benefits, including
enhancing your child’s physical fitness, problem solving abilities,
social skills, creative potentials and more,” stated Thony Dizon, Coordinator
of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.
“However, the situation out there may be fraught with some chemical hazards
that can unsuspectingly affect the well-being of your child,” he pointed out.
Dizon warned that some play things may still be coated with paints containing
lead, a toxic substance that is banned in children’s toys as per Department of
Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order 2013-24, or the Chemical
Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds.
As clarified by Memorandum Circular 10, Series of 2016, issued by the
Environmental Management Bureau, “the manufacture, processing, sale,
distribution and use of paints with more than 90 parts per million (ppm) of
lead and lead compounds in the production of toys and related products shall be
prohibited after December 31, 2016.”
“Children’s products,” according to the said directive, include, among other
things, “indoor/outdoor playground equipment (such as) slides, swings, seesaws,
play pens, play houses.”
“With frequent use, the lead-containing paints in some playground equipment may
chip or peel and gets into the soil, which can be ingested by children as a result
of their usual hand-to-mouth behavior,” Dizon said.
“As many of the public playgrounds are not well-maintained, it is possible that
the paint in some painted play equipment has already deteriorated,” he said.
Dizon noted that high concentrations of lead up to over 100,000 ppm were
detected by the EcoWaste Coalition during the group’s screening of paints in
public playgrounds in Metro Manila in the last five years.
“While some lead-containing playground equipment in Manila
and Quezon City
“The onset of summer provides a good
opportunity for our LGUs to check not only on the physical state of our public
playgrounds, but also on the potential chemical risk posed by some leaded play
equipment. Some forms of lead hazard assessment is necessary to ensure a
lead-safe play environment for the children,” he added.
To minimize childhood exposure to lead this summer, the EcoWaste Coalition
suggested that:
1. Organizers of street and barangay basketball games should not paint
the backboard, pole and floor markings with lead-containing paints.
Always choose lead-safe certified paints.
2. Children should refrain from
buying and using painted turumpo as some tops may be coated with
lead-containing paints. Go for unpainted tops instead.
3. Parents should guide their kids on the
proper washing of hands after play and especially before meals to avoid the
ingestion of lead-containing dust or soil.
According to the World Health Organization, “children are particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects
of lead, and even relatively low levels of exposure can cause serious and in
some cases irreversible neurological damage.”
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