South Africans exposed to high levels of lead

Archive photo: Daniel Steyn

• South Africans have very high levels of exposure to lead. This is because the metal has been used in a range of ordinary consumer products across the country.
• In 2022, South Africa imported over 700-tonnes of lead chromates from India, according to a new report. These are pigments used in paints and plastics.
• Research shows that from 2020 to 2022, Indian companies exported lead chromates to 78 countries. South Africa was the third largest recipient on the list in 2021 and 2022.
• New regulations were published in May, dropping the permissible threshold for lead in paint from 0.06% to 0.009%.

In the 2000s scientists discovered that toxic lead paint had been used widely across South Africa, coating everything from residential homes to playground equipment. In many cases, the paint was chipping, forming lead dust that children could inhale or get on their hands and mouths. This would increase their risk of heart disease and may affect brain development.

In 2009, the national health department responded by setting legal limits on the amount of lead that manufacturers could add to paint (something countries like France and Belgium had done a hundred years prior).

Earlier this year, the threshold was dropped even further, to a level that effectively prohibits people from intentionally adding lead to paint. The South African Paint Manufacturers Association had for years been advising its members to meet this standard in preparation for these new regulations.

Despite this, South Africa has continued to be a top importer of lead-based pigments, according to a new report by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN). In 2022, South Africa imported 713-tonnes of lead chromates from India alone.

Lead chromates are used to add colour to paints (and occasionally plastics) and to make them more resistant to corrosion. Non-toxic alternatives have been available for decades, which has allowed some countries to phase them out.

The report shows that from 2020 to 2022, Indian companies exported lead chromates to 78 countries. South Africa was the third largest recipient on the list in 2021 and 2022. South African companies have also been buying lead chromates from France and Germany, according to the research, though the total amounts are unknown in these cases.

Dr Sara Brosché, lead author of the report, told GroundUp that wealthier countries needed to avoid double standards in the trade of lead: “Richer countries have a responsibility not to export toxic chemicals banned in their own countries.” Especially if the importing country “has low capacity for monitoring trade”.

Source: World Health Organisation graphic published in the IPEN report.

Exposed to high levels of lead

A 2023 study published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal estimated that 5.5-million people die of heart disease linked to lead exposure each year – greater than the number killed by outdoor air pollution. A number of causal studies have also demonstrated a link between childhood lead exposure and reduced academic performance.

These harms disproportionately affect low and middle income countries that have failed to implement or enforce anti-lead legislation. South Africa is no exception. Aside from its regulatory shortcomings on paint, the government has failed to create adequate buffer zones between residential areas and mine waste facilities, allowing lead to contaminate garden soil and vegetation.

Other sources of exposure in South Africa have included lead-based ammunition, fishing sinkers, certain ayurvedic medicines and artisanal aluminium cooking pots.

The result is that most ordinary South Africans have a lot of lead in their systems. Any amount of lead exposure is unsafe, but the National Institute of Communicable Diseases states that if a person has more than five micrograms of lead in every 100ml of their blood, then the health authorities should be immediately notified.

A 2022 study estimated that in South Africa, 53% of all children exceeded this blood-lead threshold. For context, when lead was found in the drinking water of the American city of Flint in Michigan, this prompted the US federal government to declare a state of emergency. At the time, less than 4% of children in Flint were above the five microgram threshold. (The studies are not entirely comparable because they look at different age groups.)

Asked for comment about the IPEN report, Health Department spokesman Foster Mohale acknowledged the “massive quantities of lead chromates imported between 2020 and 2022”. He said that this happened “prior to the publication of new regulations on lead in paint or coating materials”. The regulations were published in May, and dropped the permissible threshold for lead in paint from 0.06% to 0.009%.

Mohale told GroundUp that “the Department of Health anticipates that the imports of lead chromates will stop due to the new regulations [which require] that importers must submit or produce a Compliance Declaration Certificate”.

Mohale said that “at the ports of entry, Port Health Officers from the Border Management Authority have been capacitated and trained in operating the XRFs [X-Ray fluorescence devices used to monitor lead levels]”.

Whether the new regulations will be enforced effectively remains to be seen, as the 2009 law is often flouted. For instance, a study from 2023 showed that many ceramic bowls and plates at retail stores in Johannesburg were coated in ceramic glaze that exceeded the legal lead limits. The lead content of one South African-made product was over 100 times the legal threshold.

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