Partnership Urged On Research Into Lead Exposure

Chairman of the Paint and Surface Coatings Technical Committee at the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), Johann Antoine, is calling for partnership on research to determine lead exposure levels in Jamaica.

He noted that such collaboration is one of the greatest needs in the fight against lead poisoning from paint.

Mr. Antoine, who is a research scientist at the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) at the University of the West Indies (UWI), said that there needs to be buy-in from several private-sector stakeholders “to support research that is going to help us to start investigating where we are most exposed, so that we can attack that, mitigate that, and improve quality of life”.

“We want to find those partners, those stakeholders, who, just like us, are very interested in making sure that their products and their processes do not impact negatively on the health and quality of life of the Jamaican population in general, and specifically of the most vulnerable, who are our children,” he added.

Studies have found that there is virtually no lead in paint manufactured in Jamaica.

The importation of paint into the island has the potential to expose the population to lead.