Health, Fire & Safety Issues

HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS IN CONSUMER PAINTS

Q. Are there standards/regulations regarding the possible emission or leaching of chemicals from wall paints and furniture (solvent and water based)? How can the customer of a baby crib or a wall paint be sure that, for example, scrubbing the paint would not release hazardous chemicals t the rag, or that the baby would not swallow some chemicals?

A. I am not aware of any regulations in the US that require leaching tests for chemicals from paints. However, you can conduct these tests yourself and then determine the risks to the public.

In the US paint manufacturers are obligated to identify all hazardous ingredients as defined by OSHA. A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) will tell you what hazardous ingredients are in the paint. Many MSDS can be found on the internet.

If you were using paints manufactured in the US, then for the most part I do not expect that you will find any chemicals in the paints used on interior walls or furniture that are hazardous to children.  I do not know about paint formulations in Israel, nor do I know if paint manufactured in Israel or Europe are required to have an accompanying MSDS.

If you are still unsure about the safety of the paints, then arrange for a laboratory to conduct leaching tests and then analyze for hazardous ingredients. But the analytical chemist will first want to know what chemicals to look for, and that information must come from the paint manufacturer.

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