20 October 2026, Quezon City. To mark the 14th year of the International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW), stakeholders from government, industry, and civil society in the Philippines converged for a lively seminar on lead chromates co-organized by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the EcoWaste Coalition.
Over 60 participants — spanning national government agencies, paint manufacturers, and civil society groups — met to discuss the health and environmental risks of lead chromates, a family of yellow, orange, and red crystalline pigments and the predominant source of lead in lead-containing paints. The discussions centered on lead toxicity and poisoning prevention, the Chemical Control Order (CCO) for lead and lead compounds, and the ongoing effort to secure a Rotterdam Convention listing for lead chromates.
Participants learned about the health impacts of lead exposure, a global health hazard with no known safe levels.
EMB Environmental Education and Information Division (EEID) Chief Cristina Francisco warmly welcomed the participants, while Engr. Arvin Cassidy Jacob, Technical Expert of EMB’s Chemical Management Section, briefed them on the CCO, which won the Future Policy Award in 2021 (special category on lead paint elimination), describing its salient provisions, requirements and targets, achievements so far, and the challenges faced in enforcing it.
Eng. Arvin Cassidy Jacob introduced the groundbreaking Chemical Control Order (CCO), phasing out lead use in paint manufacturing.
Dr. Geminn Louis Apostol, Environmental Health Program Head of the Ateneo Center for Research and Innovation (ACRI), discussed lead toxicity through the lens of environmental health. He stressed that there is no known safe level of lead exposure, and that its harm reaches nearly every organ system: lead impairs children’s brain development, lowering IQ and affecting attention and behavior, and in adults it raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney damage, and reproductive problems.
“Lead poisoning is not only a health issue, but it is also an equity and socio-economic and development issue,” Apostol said. “The burden falls heaviest on those least able to protect themselves: young children, whose growing bodies absorb lead more readily; pregnant women, who can pass it to their unborn babies; workers in paint, recycling, and informal industries; and low-income communities living in older, poorly maintained homes or near pollution sources. The damage is largely irreversible, and it follows a child for life, affecting learning, earning potential, and long-term health. Preventing exposure at the source, including by stopping lead chromates and leaded paints from entering our market, is the most effective and most just intervention we have.”
Chemist Jeiel Guarino of IPEN discussed the case for listing lead chromates under the Rotterdam Convention to track global shipments and empower countries to block lead-based pigments.
Jeiel Guarino, Global Lead Paint Elimination Campaigner and Science Officer at the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), discussed the importance of preventing unwanted imports of lead chromates and paints that contain them, which are currently unmonitored and unregulated. “If lead chromates are listed in the Rotterdam Convention, the treaty’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure will apply, bringing legally binding transparency and control to the international trade of these pigments used in making lead paints.”
In September 2026, the Rotterdam Convention’s Chemical Review Committee unanimously recommended listing lead chromates, moving the measure toward a final adoption at the Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2029. Cameroon and Morocco initiated the push in 2024, followed by Switzerland and Australia in 2025, with their submission of notifications of final regulatory action on lead chromates.
During the seminar, Antonio Floro of the Philippine Paint and Coatings Association, Inc. (PPCAI) reiterated the paint industry’s “no objection” to the Rotterdam Convention’s listing of lead chromates, noting member paint manufacturers have phased out the use of lead compounds; affiliated manufacturers, importers, and distributors of raw materials no longer produce or market lead chromates; associated manufacturers and raw material suppliers have readily adopted commercially available alternatives to lead chromates; importation and sale of finished paint products with high lead levels highlight the necessity for stringent control measures; governments, including the Philippines, should be equipped with legally binding tools, such as those in the Rotterdam Convention, to control the entry of lead chromates and prevent the importation of unauthorized chemicals and paints.
According to a civil society statement endorsed by over 40 groups and individuals and presented during the seminar: “Listing lead chromates under the Rotterdam Convention is important for the Philippines because it creates a legally binding tracking and consent system that helps block lead-containing pigments and paints from entering our ports and the market,” noting that “although the Philippines has a national ban on lead in paint, as embodied in DENR Administrative Order 2013-24, lead-containing paints continue to enter through unmonitored global trade.”
“Because the 2029 Rotterdam Convention COP is still three years away, the government must intervene now to tighten current paint import procedures, including for e-commerce transactions,” the groups said.
“This will prevent lead-containing paints from bypassing our national ban. Safeguarding the lead paint ban — which was recognized globally with the 2021 Future Policy Award—is vital to protecting our children, workers, and future generations from the adverse impacts of lead poisoning,” the civil society statement said.
In her closing remarks, Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, said: “We hope this seminar has taught us more about the toxicity of lead and why we need enforced policies and rules, nationally and globally, to protect our people, especially the children, from preventable sources of lead poisoning.”
