3 ms·
> I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU? The dangers of lead paint have been known for over 100 years. France banned it in 1909. The League of N
by thinkcontext 5y ago
> I'm actually wondering why: no leaded paints in EU?
The dangers of lead paint have been known for over 100 years. France banned it in 1909. The League of Nations adopted a treaty on it in 1922. The US declined to join the treaty due to industry lobbying and didn't get around to banning it until 1978.
By declining to ban it the US cost itself $Ts when accounting for the developmental delays, lost IQ points, health problems, increased crime, lost productivity, remediation, etc. All so that one tiny corner of the chemical industry could have a little more profit.
- refurb 5y agoYou have a source because your statement seems quite wrong. Google tells me lead paint wasn’t banned in the UK until the 1990’s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-based_paint_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead-based_paint_in_the_Unit... France was 1948, but lots of lead poisoned children anyways since the paint is still on buildings people live in. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13918871-200-lead-paint-poisons-paris-children/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13918871-200-lead-pai...
- thinkcontext 5y ago"To protect the health of painters, France had passed in 1909 a law banning the use of paints containing lead for the painting of the interior and exterior of all buildings." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_paint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_paint "The League of Nations banned white-lead interior paint in 1922 (you know an environmental regulation is old if it was issued by the League of Nations), but the U.S. declined to implement the ban." https://environmentlawhistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/lead-regulation-in-history.html https://environmentlawhistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/lead-regu... I made no claims about the UK.
- sjf 5y agoBut the UK was in the league of nations...
- lkbm 5y agoLooking a little more into France's question: I found this article: "White lead pigment in paint had been recognized as toxic and restricted since 1915; it had been banned from professional use since 1926 and from craft work since 1948."[0] Wikipedia's citation[1] does appear to be a delcaration from 1909 stating: "ART. 2. - A l'expiration de la cinquième année qui suivra la promulgation de la présente loi, l'emploi de la céruse, de l'huile de lin plombifère et de tout produit spécialisé renfermant de la céruse, sera interdit dans tous les travaux de peinture de quelque nature qu'ils soient, exécutés par les ouvriers peintres, tant à l'extérieur qu'à l'intérieur des bâtiments_" Translated using https://www.deepl.com/translator https://www.deepl.com/translator : "ART. 2 - At the end of the fifth year following the promulgation of the present law, the use of ceruse, leaded linseed oil and any specialized product containing ceruse, will be prohibited in all painting work of any nature whatsoever, carried out by painters, both outside and inside buildings." ("ceruse" is white lead.) This supports the 1915 (the fifth year following 1909) in the first article. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448552/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448552/ [1] https://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/fichiers/numerisations3/bull.insp.trav_1909.pdf https://solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/fichiers/numerisations3/bu... (p202 of the PDF, p172 by the original document page numbers)
- foobarian 5y agoSpeaking of dangerous paints used many years ago: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/shadows-from-the-walls-of-death-book https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/shadows-from-the-walls...