IPPIC acknowledges and supports many of the activities proposed by UNEP/WHO Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (GAELP), and urges all IPPIC member associations to promote the GAELP’s planned “International Week of Action on Prevention of Lead Poisoning”.

The International Conference on Chemicals Management at its second session (ICCM-2, Geneva, May 2009) endorsed the establishment of a global partnership to promote the phase-out of the use of lead in paint as an important contribution to the implementation of paragraph 57 of the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development and to the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management.

The overall goal of the partnership, called the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paints (GAELP), is to prevent children’s exposure to lead via paints containing lead and to minimize occupational exposures to lead in paint. The broad objective is to phase out the manufacture and sale of paints containing lead and eventually to eliminate the risks from these products.

The global alliance is a voluntary and collaborative relationship between various parties, whether governmental, nongovernmental, public or private, in which all participants agree to work together systematically to attain the overall goal of phasing out the use of lead in paint. The Secretariat for the GAELP is drawn from experts at the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO)

The global alliance is open to governments, intergovernmental organizations and representatives of civil society and the private sector that support the alliance goal. It is open also to any other entity or individual who agrees to work towards the goal of the alliance.

Key Activity Areas for the Elimination of Lead in Paints

    Raising awareness of toxicity to human health and the environment and alternatives;
    Guidance and assistance to identify potential lead exposure;
    Assistance to industry (manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers);
    Prevention programs to reduce exposure;
    Promotion of national regulatory frameworks.

IPPIC has offered its support for the GAELP, addressing the key activities listed above using the considerable industry experience in on effective legislative, regulatory and technical approaches on lead risk reduction.

Comprised of paint and printing ink associations representing Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, EU, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, UK and the United States, the IPPIC was established to ensure that the industry, in coordinating the development of industry policy on international issues, fully discussed and analyzed the global implications. In 2005 IPPIC was granted NGO status from the United Nations Economic and Social Council and will highlight international industry issues to the UN and it’s governing body.