Please consider adding your name to this petition, directed to Sherwin-Williams (Dutch Boy) and PPG Industries (Glidden) Paint Companies. It was created for Change.org by Occupational Knowledge International.
The harmful health effects of lead exposure on the brain, reproductive system, kidneys, blood, cardiovascular and other systems have been well established for decades. Lead paint for residential use in the U.S. has been banned since 1978 and industrial applications have virtually disappeared due to prohibitions on the use of lead additives in coatings.
Yet, Sherwin-Williams and PPG continue to manufacture and distribute lead paint in developing countries around the world.
Children in these countries are being poisoning from lead paint used on homes, schools, products, and from soil and dust contamination where lead paint is present. Workers are being exposed in the manufacture of lead paint, in its application, and in renovation, repair and repainting operations where lead paint is present.
We are asking Sherwin-Williams and PPG Industries to immediately establish and post a written policy on their websites agreeing to eliminate the use of all lead compounds in all products that they make, distribute, and/or sell. We are also asking that they recall all stocks of lead paint in the possession of their customers, in warehouses, or in retail outlets. What’s more, the coatings collected from this recall must be safely treated and/or disposed of in appropriate hazardous waste landfills.
Lead exposures are responsible for more than 674,000 deaths a year due primarily to cardiovascular disease. The continued use of lead paint is contributing to a global lead poisoning epidemic costing low- and middle-income countries more than $977 billion dollars annually in lost lifetime economic productivity.
In 2011, AkzoNobel – the world’s largest paint company – voluntarily agreed to stop the use of lead additives in all products. It is time for Sherwin-Williams and PPG Industries to do the same.
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