Inconvenient Truth
Top paint brands found toxic, can harm kids

Most of the popular brands of paints contain high quantities of lead, a toxin especially dangerous for children, says a latest study done by Centre for Science and Environment. While there is no mandatory standard for lead levels in paints in the country, top companies exceed even the voluntary limit specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Over 2008 and 2009, CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory tested these brands for their lead content and found 72 per cent of the samples with lead much higher than the BIS standard.

In 2008, CSE’s laboratory had procured 25 samples of popular enamel paints randomly from Delhi markets and analysed them for lead content. The brands tested were Apcolite (Asian Paints), Nerolac (Kansai Nerolac Paints), Luxol (Berger Paints India), Superlac (Shalimar Paints) and Dulux (ICI India). The study covered five of the six major companies in the organised sector, which control 75 per cent of the household paints market . Lead was found in 23 of the 25 samples tested.

Seventy-two per cent of the samples — 18 samples — contained lead much higher than the 1,000 ppm limit specified by the BIS. The highest lead content was in the deep orange paint of the Shalimar’s Superlac brand — 185 times the BIS limit and 308 times the US paints limit of 600 ppm.

Berger brand Luxol’s golden yellow color had a staggering 162,559 ppm lead — 163 times the BIS limit and 271 times the US paints limit. All the samples of ICI-Dulux had lead much below the specified limit. In fact, of the five paints manufacturers, only ICI did not use lead in its paint formulations. The white shades of Asian Paints and Nerolac also conformed to the standards.

Based on this study, when CSE wrote asking companies for their plans to remove lead from paints, Asian Paints and Nerolac responded saying they were in the process of change. In 2009, CSE tested to confirm what had been done – taking samples from each of the five major companies.

This study showed improvement in the sample of Asian Paints and Nerolac, but samples of Berger and Shalimar still had high and unacceptable levels of lead in paint. Clearly, therefore, while getting rid of this toxin from our common household product is possible, it is not being done on a voluntary basis, without mandatory regulations.

Says Sunita Narain, director, CSE: “Every moment, we are building a stock of unwanted, toxic chemicals in our bodies. Lead from our house paints is one of them. It’s deadly because it can lower children’s IQ.”

Doctors refer to lead as the ‘silent epidemic’. The human body cannot process and excrete lead. Sustained and large exposure can cause serious damage to developing central nervous systems and brains, leading to a child performing poorly in exams or having short attention spans. Adults exposed to lead poisoning may find it difficult to concentrate or remember things, and feel pain in muscles and joints. Even extremely low levels of lead can impair foetal development.

The US Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry has declared lead level in blood exceeding 10 microgramme per decilitre as unsafe — studies indicate that over 60 per cent of children in India may have more than this level in their blood.

Like most chemicals, paints in India can be made, sold and used without any regulatory controls. The BIS specifications for the paints sector are voluntary, setting the limit at 1,000 ppm. The US, Canada and Singapore have limited the lead content in their paints to 600 ppm. The European Union had, as far back as 1988, banned lead in paints. Now it allows lead-based paints for restoration of art works and buildings. It stipulates harsh warning on any paint product, which has lead.

Says Chandra Bhushan, associate director, CSE: “This is when it is clear that companies have the capability and technology to phase out lead from their products. But as costs are an issue, companies complain that making lead-free paints makes the product expensive, and lowers their market share. It is therefore, even more important to have mandatory standards for all branded paint companies.”

He says that environmental regulation should not be confined to production but extended to products we use. "We urgently need environmental product standards in the country before our health is even more at risk because of chemicals in our households.” he says.
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Moderator : Many of our subscribers have reacted strongly on this issue.

Besides lead, there is one more problem associated with plastic and emulsion paints, i.e. after scrubbing from wall, the removed paint takes thousand s of years to  decompose.
Prashant Naik

Disturbing to whom? The India of today consists in the majority of illiterate, poorly informed and economically weaker sections, which will always buy what the shopkeeper says or the product which is cheaper. No wonder that the highly leaded products are thriving, not only in the enamel paints sector. The manufacturers must voluntarily reduce the lead contents, and also arrive at fair business practices among themselves in the industry in order to solve this problem. Only government legislation is always ineffective and leads to corruption. The Indian paint industry consists of so many small scale units. I am sure that the results of analyses of their products will be even more shocking.
Dr. N. Rao

Such companies must be shut down and their licenses must be cancelled .
Yogesh

It's not only about big shots.. we also have to attack on a real need of the customer...if you consider golden yellow, it is not possible to eliminate lead content from such colours unless we use lead free pigment which costs a lot more. If we suggest the  customer to use some other shades? or if he still insists the same, then pay more for it.. Its now time to educate the people to choose more greener shades...!
Satish

Unlike weapons its a slow poison which seeps into our systems. Unfortunately we sell tons of chrome based pigments to the plastic industry in India and there are many more like us
Anonymous subscriber

Officially I can't comment on this since it will hamper my relations with these companies
Anonymous Subscriber.

One should make more noise on this, as every body gets affected by this. As a sales professional, i think it's important to understand more on this topic and make people aware of the toxic facts. this way we can curtail the ill effects.
K Paranjape


Lead Free Paints from Kansai Nerolac
Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd has always been committed to the welfare of society and environment and as a responsible corporate has always taken initiatives in the areas of health, education, community development and environment preservation.


Kansai Nerolac has worked on removing hazardous heavy metals from their paints – among this lead being the most prominent metal. <more>


PPG Coatings Make Being ‘green’ Easier More Colorful for Electrolux
NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Pittsburgh, PA, United States, 08/24/2009 - On Earth Day 2009, Electrolux introduced “Kelly Green,” a limited-edition color designed exclusively for the company’s premium line of eco-friendly washers and dryers.


The vibrant new hue stemmed from a partnership between Electrolux and the company’s worldwide coatings supplier, PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG), which not only made the color possible, but also made its application more environmentally friendly.

Kelly Green is the latest in a series of bold product colors from Electrolux meant to inject today’s laundry rooms with an energizing sense of style. In addition to declaring “an end to the era of boring appliances,” Electrolux’s highly visible advertising and marketing campaign touts the environmental attributes of its washers, which use 83 percent less energy I and 56 percent less water II than the U.S. Department of Energy minimum standard.

In addition to their water and energy savings, Electrolux washers and dryers boast eco-effective coatings, which represent a revolutionary development in the appliance industry.

When most major appliance manufacturers paint appliances with bright colors, they typically do so with liquid coatings. Because of the way they are formulated and mixed, liquid coatings have traditionally provided the highest levels of brightness, color and depth. They also can be infused with micas and metallics that add sparkle to paint as usually associated with high-end automobile finishes.

Working with Electrolux, PPG developed a coating process that enables the company to produce high-gloss, automotive-quality colors with powder instead of liquid. And from an environmental standpoint, powder coatings are preferred for several reasons.

First, powder coatings are made without solvents, therefore emitting virtually no volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Second, there is less waste with powder coatings because overspray is efficiently recovered and returned to the paint application process. Finally, as powder coatings don’t have the volume or weight of liquid coatings, they are easier to package and less energy-intensive to transport.

With the new powder coatings technology developed by PPG, Electrolux offers consumers the best of both worlds: a highly eco-effective coating that offers all the brightness, color and brilliance of liquid coatings. Electrolux now offers washers and dryers in six designer colors: Turquoise Sky, Mediterranean Blue, Silver Sands, Island White, Red Hot Red and Kelly Green. <more>



 

Nordson Corporation Reports Third Quarter Results for Fiscal 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Sales and net income improve 9 percent and 73 percent over second quarter
Operating margin improves to 18 percent and return on sales improves to 12 percent
Strong third quarter free cash flow of $35 million more than doubles level of a year ago
WESTLAKE, Ohio – August 20, 2009 – Nordson Corporation (Nasdaq:NDSN) today reported results for the third quarter of its 2009 fiscal year. For the quarter ending July 31, 2009, sales of $206 million generated net income of $24 million. Diluted earnings per share were $0.71, inclusive of a $0.02 per share charge related to previously announced cost reduction activities and a $0.02 per share gain related to a one-time tax benefit. Prior year sales, net income and diluted earnings per share were $288 million, $32 million and $0.93, respectively.

“Rising sequential demand in technology end markets coupled with continued execution of our enterprise-wide cost reduction initiatives enabled Nordson to deliver outstanding performance in the quarter,” said Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Edward P. Campbell. “Operating margin for the quarter reached 18 percent, equal to the margin achieved during 2008’s record third quarter. Return on sales increased to 12 percent in the current quarter, exceeding the strong level of the third quarter last year. This excellent performance highlights our management team’s solid execution. This level of profitability led to strong free cash flow of $35 million in the quarter, more than double the amount generated in the same period a year ago.” <mpre>

Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd
Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd has been at the forefront of the Indian paint manufacturing industry for more than 88 years. It has pioneered a wide spectrum of quality paints. Kansai Nerolac is the second largest paint company in India and is the leader in Industrial segment. The company has four strategically located manufacturing units all over India and a strong dealer network across the country. The company manufactures a diversified range of products ranging from architectural coatings for homes, offices, hospitals and hotels to sophisticated industrial coatings for most of the industries.
When asked "How much of your topline comes from the Powder Coating segment? What are your plans on this segment? We believe you have forayed into the dealer segment aside from the OEM customers?" Mr. H. M. Bharuka Managing Director of Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd  said

Powder coating business in India is growing well and we see a great future for this eco-friendly product range. We have made good inroads in job coaters and dealer segment.<more>

Asian Paints: A pretty picture
Consumers in metro cities may not be spending too much but the story in smaller cities is quite different. And Asian Paints, the market leader in the decorative paints category, continues to capture these spends. Surprising the Street, the company posted strong operating profit margins, up a remarkable 500 basis points to 18.9 per cent, and a 60 per cent increase in operating profit in the June 2009 quarter.

The operating margins were driven by a 17.6 per cent growth in the consolidated top line to Rs 1,460 crore, which was the result of a double-digit increase in volumes — in the March quarter too, Asian Paints had clocked 10 per cent-plus growth in volumes. The company had effected a price cut of around 10 per cent in the second half of 2008-09, a move that appears to have allowed it to gain market share. While it did not make any price changes in the June quarter, and therefore, saw good realisations, it cut prices by around 2 per cent in July.

That’s because prices of key inputs such as titanium dioxide and some oils have come off — in the June quarter, the cost of raw materials as a proportion of sales fell nearly 450 basis points. With a pick-up in residential housing, Asian Paints should continue to see increase in volumes. However, a weak monsoon could stymie demand from the new construction segment, which fetches around 30 per cent of volumes. <more>

Asian Paints arm to divest stake in Berger International Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia
Asian Paints Ltd has announced that the Berger International Ltd, Singapore, a subsidiary of Asian Paints (International) Ltd, which is a 100% subsidiary of the Company, has signed a Conditional Share Purchase Agreement for divestment of its entire equity shareholding in Berger International Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, subject to requisite approvals.<more>

Asian Paints hosts workshop for architects
Sri Lankan architects recently had an opportunity to get a ‘hands-on’ experience with a new special effects decorative paint and unleash their creativity at a workshop conducted by Asian Paints, the Sri Lankan unit of the India–based multinational coatings company.
The event was organised by the Professional Affairs Board of the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA) to provide members an opportunity to update their knowledge on the latest development in paint manufacture and local and international trends.

In addition, a group of 75 architects had a fun-filled experience with ‘Royale Play’, Asian Paint’s new special effects paint that enables users to create their own designs with unique textures, patterns and colours. <more>

Berger to install water based paint plant
Berger Paints India has informed that its board of directors has decided to install a water based paint plant with a capacity of about 100,000 tons per annum in south India.

Berger Paints India is engaged in the manufacture and sale of decorative and industrial paints and coatings. The company offers decorative paints for all interior and exterior surfaces including concrete, plaster, metal, wood, and special applications like water storage etc. Acrylic brands like Luxol Silk and Rangoli for interiors, and Weathercoat for exteriors are quality leaders in technology. . <more>

Paints industry to grow 10-12 percent, say manufacturers
August 10th, 2009 - 6:09 pm ICT by IANS -
Kolkata, Aug 10 (IANS) The Indian Paint Association expects the industry to post 10-12 percent growth this fiscal riding on initial signs of revival of user industries, a top member of the organisation said here Monday.
“We expect the industry to surpass last year’s (2008-09) growth rate of just 9 percent, one of the lowest in recent history when we faced spiralling crude oil prices, which constitutes close to 50 percent of our inputs,” said association’s president Virendra Singhal <more>

Leo
Leo Surface Coating Pvt. Ltd. We has bagged an order for Bus Body Painting & FRP shop from the land of Pyramid i.e. Egypt. the paintshop will be use to produce buses built on Mercedes, Nissan, Scania, MAN Engines.

Norwegian paint maker Jotun reaches out to Indian shoppers at Oberoi Mall news
Jotun India, the Indian arm of Norwegian paint company, has come up with an innovative way to reach out to potential customers in India. It has tied up with Oberoi Mall, Goregaon, Mumbai, to give shoppers a first-hand experience of new-age painting solutions and trends by exclusively decorating the homes of three lucky shoppers with its latest interior decorative applications.

The 'Home Wall Make-over' mega prize will be one of the key highlights of the mall's monsoon shopping extravaganza called 'Oberoi Offers'. Shoppers with a bill amount of Rs2009 from any of the outlets will be entitled to play a lucky game in the mall's atrium. The mega prize for the lucky game is to be won by three lucky houses, which would be refurbished with modern styles and textures of interior wall painting by Jotun.

DuPont Powder Coatings Launches New Website
DuPont Powder Coatings recently launched a new website designed to give customers quick and easy access to information about its powder coatings brands and products. The easy-to-navigate design presents a bright and inviting appearance and includes comprehensive product, color and technical information as well as a digital color card showing the 400-plus RAL and standard colors and surface effects in stock and ready to ship same day.<more>

ASTM revises nanotechnology standard E2490
(Nanowerk News) According to Alan Rawle, applications manager, Malvern Instruments Inc., and co-chair, E56.02, the interlaboratory study involved 26 laboratories taking a total of 7,700 measurements. Measurements were made using several corroborative techniques including photon correlation spectroscopy, the subject of ASTM E2490. Rawle also gratefully acknowledges that the cooperation and involvement of personnel from the National Institute of Standards and the National Cancer Institute was instrumental in ensuring the success of the interlaboratory study.
PCS is also known as dynamic light scattering or quasi-elastic light scattering. This technique is used to measure the size of very small particles (typically smaller than 100 nm, all the way down to 1 nm or less).
Rawle says that characterization of size distribution was one of three key parameters (the others being composition and morphology) identified by members as being key to the development of nanotechnology. The panel considered the development of standards to be crucial to the growth of nanotechnology.
"Manufacturers already making nanomaterials on a routine basis will need ASTM E2490 to understand the basis of the technique and the constraints, especially from the precision and bias study," says Rawle. "The document can be used for training newcomers to the technique as it is a practice guide rather than a recipe-based standard. For researchers in the field, it is essential that size distribution data is available as this is one of the prime characterization parameters." <more>

OSHA to Publish Names of Fraudulent Trainers
In its continuing work to crack down on fraudulent trainers in its Outreach Training Program...read more <more>

Dow Coating Materials Raises Prices
HORGEN, Switzerland -- Effective Aug. 15, 2009, or as contract terms allow, Dow Coating Materials will increase prices by 5-7 percent for its styrene acrylic binder and opaque polymer emulsion products in Europe.

The increases are necessitated by the continued pressure on margins experienced in the last few months, partly generated by the rising cost of some key raw materials. Customers interested in learning more about the price increase should contact their local Dow sales representative. <more>

Arkema to Buy Certain Assets From Dow
COLOMBES, France/MIDLAND, MI - Arkema and The Dow Chemical Co. have entered into an agreement in which Arkema will purchase certain acrylates and latex assets from Dow.

Arkema will buy a Clear Lake, TX, acrylic acid and esters plant and the UCAR Emulsion Systems specialty latex businesses in North America for a fair value consideration of U.S. $50 million.

The proceeds from the sale are accretive to Dow's shareholders and will be used for further de-leveraging.


The selection of Arkema as the buyer must be approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the two companies will be shortly reviewing the proposed transaction with FTC authorities. It is expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2009. <more>

Coatings Technology Developed by SwRI Earns Award
SAN ANTONIO, TX — A new method developed at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) for depositing super-hard, ultra-thick coatings on components has received a 2009 R&D 100 Award. R&D Magazine selected SwRI’s Plasma Enhanced Magnetron Sputter (PEMS) technology as one of the 100 most significant technological achievements of the past year.

Components such as jet engine blades and helicopter rotor blades operate under harsh conditions, and the surfaces of these objects are often subject to severe solid particle or liquid droplet erosion. To protect these components from erosion, abrasion and wear, a surface coating is needed that demonstrates both high hardness and toughness.

“Most commercially available coatings are fairly hard, but not tough,” said Ronghua Wei, an Institute Scientist in SwRI’s Mechanical and Materials Engineering Division and Principal Developer of the PEMS technology. “The SwRI-developed super-hard, ultra-thick nanocomposite coating produced using our PEMS technology provides both and has shown superior resistance in comparisons to many commercial coatings.”

SwRI’s PEMS technology is an advanced variation of the physical vapor deposition process by which coatings can be deposited on the surface of various components. The PEMS process introduces a global plasma, which allows a thorough cleaning of a component’s surface to remove oxide and surface contaminants before the coating is applied, thus ensuring that the coating tightly adheres to the surface. During the process, this global plasma enhances the ion bombardment of the coating. As a result, very dense and very hard coatings can be achieved. <more>

PPG Industries' (NYSE:PPG) commercial coatings group has introduced ECK compound, which provides patented electrolysis corrosion "kontrol" proven to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion. ECK compound is intended for use in a broad range of body building and manufacturing applications where dissimilar metals may come in contact. By exclusive arrangement with Van Nay, LLC, PPG is the sole U.S. distributor of the convenient new ECK compound squeeze-tube package.


New Compound Prevents Dissimilar Metal Corrosion
"We are pleased to add ECK to the PPG commercial coatings line of products," said Megan Farkasovsky, PPG marketing specialist. "We believe that the ECK product adds real value in terms of corrosion protection for many types of equipment, including fire and emergency apparatus, military vehicles, trailers, and agricultural/construction equipment."

ECK compound inhibits electrolytic reactions, contains sacrificial zinc, and is an effective moisture barrier. In extensive testing, it has proven highly effective in eliminating corrosion between aluminum and stainless steel fasteners, outperforming traditional silicone sealants and Mylar tape.

"Teaming up with PPG is a tremendous opportunity," said Richard Nay Sr., Van Nay president. "With our combined resources, we can supply this outstanding product in easy-to-use new packaging to a broader array of quality-minded manufacturers."

ECK anti-corrosion compound:

Prevents all types of corrosion, including mag-chloride, cal-chloride, galvanic and electrolysis.
Withstands temperatures to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Is safe for painted and unpainted surfaces.
Supports use with rubber and plastic.
Meets OSHA and ACGIH standards, and is rated a low 1 for health on the material safety data sheet.
Replaces anti-seize, dielectric-grease and Mylar tape products.
Contains no silicone and is petroleum-based, so it will not dry or wash off.
Prevents bolts and fasteners from galling and seizing.


Bayer MaterialScience: US plants to close as profits fall
Bayer MaterialScience (BMS, Leverkusen / Germany; www.bayerbms.com) is to close a number of plants in the US by the end of 2009 as demand, volumes and selling prices in the second quarter of 2009 continued to show year-on-year falls. The affected units include a resins plant in New Martinsville, West Virginia, a chlorine electrolysis plant in Baytown, Texas and a small MDI plant.

Operating profit (EBITDA) at BMS fell by 67% year-on-year to EUR 121m in the second quarter of 2009 on sales down 30% at EUR 1.83 bn.



Sources say Americoats may plan to come to India
 

IIT Delhi and RadTech North America plan to hold the first RadTech India Conference  in New Delhi, November 1 - 4, 2009  at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India. Ultraviolet and electron beam (UV/EB) are generally considered environmentally friendly technologies--a typical application of 100% solid coatings cured using UV or EB is nearly instantaneous; with little to no volatile emissions.  UV/EB applications include paper, wood, graphic arts, fiber optics, photo-resist, metal and plastic coatings and many more!

The purpose of this symposium is to bring together  academia, suppliers and user groups to build knowledge, develop relationships and promote development of UV and EB in India in the the paints, coating, and graphic arts industries.

The Indian economy has been growing at a very fast pace--leading to investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and increased spending by a very large middle class population.  All this is fueling the need for local development of high technology materials.

This symposium will provide an attractive forum for presenting the Latest Advances in UV/EB curing of materials by Researchers, Scientists and Engineers from a cross-section of industry, research laboratories and academia.

Keynote, Invited, and Contributed papers from "leading-edge" academic and industrial research groups will provide a comprehensive overview of the current status and potential future directions for research, development and commercialization.

Conference will include: (i) technical paper presentations (ii) practical end user sessions (iii) Exhibits and (iv) Short Courses in: Polymer Chemistry, introduction to UV/EB technology and advanced UV/EB Curing

Conference Venue The India Habitat Center, New Delhi.  India’s premier convention Center.