Danger Of Low VOC Paint | Decorative Home Interiors
Anastacia Iacono
Products used at home often have strong impact on the indoor air quality, sometimes causing short term health problems or even leading to chronic diseases. While the chemistry of paint products might seem too complex and challenging to grasp (often even the paint product label does not include full information), it is strongly advisable to get acquainted with at least the part explaining possible impacts these products might have on the health of the paint user and other people spending their time in the freshly painted room.
This blog post introduces to some chemical substances, which are better to avoid, if possible, when purchasing or using paint products. Namely, they can be present in paint products and contribute to making indoor air toxic leading to health risks for professionals working with these products on a daily basis as well as children growing up with painted walls in their closest environment.
VOCs are present in nearly all traditional and commercially available paints. Simply put they are the wide array of gases or fumes that come off of paints and are potentially hazardous from the first moments of exposure till, in some cases, years after, while doing repair works, namely they can emit toxins in the indoor air, which are later inhaled by people being in the room.
The health impacts from the VOCs are somewhat linked to the duration of exposure and the environment, where it takes place, as well as age, pre-existing health conditions and individual levels of sensitivity, where groups most at risk are young children, elderly people and pregnant women. Unborn babies and newborn babies are especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of the toxin exposure because their organs and central nervous system are at the early stages of development.
The health problems directly linked to the exposure to VOCs are many, starting from irritation of eyes and respiratory tract and dizziness to nervous system damage, internal organ damage and several forms of cancer, such as leukaemia.
Formaldehyde is one of the most dangerous VOCs thus deserving its own place on the list of indoor air pollutants. Formaldehyde is a gaseous compound that escapes the paint as fumes and lingers in the indoor air, additionally it can stay "trapped" in the paint film and escape during the home renovation.
Formaldehyde is an extremely irritant chemical with regard to skin and eyes, it could damage the respiratory system and it is classified as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Therefore the allowed amount of formaldehyde in the EU should not exceed 0.10 ppm or otherwise the product should be labelled as hazardous.
Biocides are paint additives that serve the purpose of controlling and limiting organic life in the product either in the in-can or the dry film stage, thus being used as paint preservatives in most commercially available paints. Most biocides used in paint formulation are either fungicides or antimicrobials.
Most biocides used in paint products belong to a group of semi-volatile organic compounds, meaning they have a potential to become an indoor pollutant as a result of off gassing through the paint application and drying stage. Later, as paint degrades, the biocidal active ingredients have a potential to become a pollutant of the indoor air due to addition to the dust particles.
Considering the fact that biocides belong to the poisonous substances, the impact biocides have on human health is surprisingly uncertain, although with more deliberate approach it is possible to find out that the chemical components of biocidal products have known health implications that vary from skin and eye irritation to endocrine disruption and risks of developing cancer. Additionally, the environmental risks linked to the biocidal product use, manufacture and end of life stage has been linked to antimicrobial resistance. Consequently, it could lead to increased resistance that bacteria, viruses and fungi develop in response to certain biocide exposure, thus increasing the risk of spreading various diseases. This eventually leads to an increased biocide use and potentially could create more problems since it becomes somewhat of a vicious cycle of man against nature.
Avoiding biocides is possible by not using antifungal and antimicrobial paints or using them in limited amounts. In case of absolute necessity only those biocide-containing paints should be used that have gone through the regulation process, preferably have ecolabel marking as well as are being used and disposed of following the safety guidelines (c ).
Traditional paints contain inorganic, coloured pigments that are known for containing heavy metals including titanium dioxide, iron oxides, aluminium and mica flakes. Other heavy metals present in paint may include cadmium, mercury and lead.
Heavy metal residues can persist in an indoor environment for a very long time, thus mostly through inhalation leading to long-term health effects in the people living there. The health effects of heavy metal accumulation in a body are numerous, some are linked to organ damage, respiratory system damage and nervous system damage, some are linked to tumour development and fetal development complications. For example, mercury exposure is known to lead to birth defects, cadmium is a known carcinogen that may have toxic effects on the kidney, skeletal and respiratory system, exposure to iron oxide fumes may lead to an illness called iron fever (d;e;f;g).
Regarding heavy metals in paint pigments, lead use is either banned or limited. However, it should not be underestimated that lead has been used for a significant period of time in the past thus it still might have a lasting impact on the quality of the indoor air in residential and non-residential buildings. As lead-containing paint chips and brushes off, its smaller particles eventually contributes to the lead pollution in indoor air.
Lead exposure and uptake in the human body causes lead distribution in the blood and its accumulation in the bone consequently leading to numerous health problems including damage to nervous, immune, reproductive systems and also affecting oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. According to the EPA, the most common lead exposure effects are linked to neurological effects in children, potentially contributing to behavioural problems, learning deficits and lowered IQ (h).
One more noteworthy common paint pigment is the white titanium dioxide. While its hazardous health effects might be not so common, its nanoparticles have a potential of causing oxidative stress resulting in cell damage, genotoxicity, inflammation, immune response etc.
More significantly titanium dioxide is known for its possible environmental impact from the manufacturing stage. During the manufacturing process the so-called titanium waste is created. It consists of significant amounts of dilute sulfuric acid and large quantities of other harmful by-products acting in the environment as PH destabilisers and having harmful effects on soil and marine life (i;j;k).
The traditional paint products consist of many hazardous chemicals. Getting acquainted with the known health effects of different paint ingredients it becomes clear that there are quite many substances that better should be avoided. While some of the poisonous substances mentioned in this blog post may be present in paint in small and seemingly insignificant amounts, their potential harm to individuals may vary greatly.
When aiming to protect the human health, especially the most vulnerable groups, it is advisable to use products that are free from substances mentioned in this blog post, since there are numerous alternatives available in the market and their number tends to grow. In addition, there are measures anyone can take to lower the health risks associated to dangerous substances present in the traditional paints:
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Many job aggregator sites give home owners unrealistic estimations on how much it would cost to paint a house. Web-sites that offer painting services for $25/hr or even $40/hr are completely ridiculous, because the minimum wage for an adult painter in Australia is $27/hr, and professional painters usually charge between $65 to $95 per hour for painting services. Many web-sites like Service Seeking and Hipages use out-of-date data, and allow unqualified cowboys with no painting experience to advertise their services as 'painters'. These web-sites are misleading and dangerous to the average home owner. So what should home owners expect to pay when getting their house painted?
Beware of painters who provide a quote without even looking at the property; it means they have no idea what condition the walls and trims are in. The average cost per room should be a minimum of $400 - $1200 including the cost of paint and materials.
Once again, web-sites that claim to help you calculate the cost of painting by simply using an online calculator are misleading for consumers. It is impossible to calculate the cost of painting simply by entering a few dimensions. Professional painters take into consideration all of the following when providing a quote:
There are many reasons to only obtain quote from professional qualified painters. Many states such as New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland require painting contractors to be qualified and licenced to advertise for painting projects over a minimum amount. Licensing protects the home owner, because it ensures that when you get a quote, the person providing you with the quote has passed minimum technical skill and knowledge assessments.
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