It seems like every day there are more headlines about PFAS, a.k.a “Forever Chemicals”, each one identifying more health risks, more places they've been detected, more bans and more regulations.
From the beginning, Actalent has been following PFAS bans and substitution programs closely in our Q&A series, Forever ... For Now. As a society, it’s clear we know and accept that the health risks associated with PFAS greatly outweigh the benefits.
Now comes the process of replacing them.
The prevalence of “forever chemicals” and our reliance on them — they’ve proven extremely useful and effective in everything from long-lasting cosmetics to heat-resistant firefighting foam — will make the transformation anything but simple.
In fact, the process will require major adjustments, both in how we make and use a multitude of affected products.
The good news is we’ve done this before.
In this series, Historic Chemical Substitutions, we’re examining some of the most successful chemical substitution campaigns in history.
Hopefully these examples will serve as reminders that we’ve adjusted, innovated and overcome challenges like PFAS before. And in making these changes, we’ve often achieved better outcomes for the greater good — outcomes that may not have been endeavored otherwise.
In Parts 1, 2 and 3 we examined asbestos, CFCs and Arsenic Green, respectively. In Part 4, we examine lead paint a product that has been outlawed in the U.S. since 1977, but the impacts of its use are still being felt.
Lead Paint
As early as the fourth century, white lead was known to improve the durability, finish, and the drying speed of pigments and paints.
Even after its dangers first became known in the 18th century, lead paint remained popular and preferred among painters of every type, from house and commercial painters to artists.
While widely known by the 19th century to be toxic, many countries still didn’t ban lead-based paint until the 1990s and after. It’s been outlawed in the U.S. since 1977.
Lead Exposure Dangers
A neurotoxin, lead is believed to mimic or otherwise affect calcium. Calcium, the most abundant mineral in our bodies, is critical to bone structure, circulatory functions, muscles development, and nerve functions. Once ingested, lead is stored in bones like calcium and released throughout the body in our bloodstreams. In adults it can damage various organs, including the kidney and cardiovascular systems. Within pregnant mothers, it can cause birth defects and induce miscarriages. Children in-particular are at the highest risk -- low levels can cause behavioral problems, while high levels can cause seizure, coma, or death. Beyond the severity of lead exposure was the scale; these risks were present in every home that contained lead-based paint.
Lead Paint Substitutions
Lead paint was finally replaced by titanium dioxide and sometimes zinc oxide. To illustrate their safeness, both substitutes are used in sunscreens and, in the case of titanium oxide, as a food additive. Titanium dioxide has excellent opacity, so less pigment is required than white lead. As drying agents, strontium (non-toxic) and zirconium (less toxic than lead) based compounds have replaced lead. Lead chromate is still sometimes used for industrial applications, particularly in aerospace, where corrosion inhibition is critical, but otherwise modern interior paints are non-toxic. While these replacements don’t replicate all of lead’s properties, they are safe and effective.
Conclusion: What History Shows Us About Chemical Substitutions
History shows us that harmful chemicals generally start being used because they have new and/or unique benefits and properties.
However, the excitement over such chemicals can make them ubiquitous before their dangers are fully known, at which point they have already gained a lot of inertia in the marketplace.
In the long run, rather than strengthen a company’s performance, we learn that such chemicals ultimately hold companies back from innovating cheaper, better, and safer alternatives. Often, the innovation of better alternatives doesn’t occur until companies are forced to make those changes, usually after facing staggering financial losses and/or rebuke in light of public fallout.
Lastly, history shows us that once a problem is known, companies should act fast and be proactive against inertia. Those companies will stand out among consumers as a market leader, rather than become known as the company that worked against preventing further harm.
Lead Paint FAQs
Lead was used in paint to make it more durable, glossy and faster drying. The origins of lead-based paint date back to the fourth century.
Lead is neurotoxin. If ingested, it becomes stored in our bones like calcium and is released throughout the body in the bloodstream. In adults it can damage various organs, including the kidney and cardiovascular systems. Within pregnant mothers, it can cause birth defects and induce miscarriages. Children in-particular are at the highest risk; low levels can cause behavioral problems, while high levels can cause seizure, coma, or death.
Outside of some niche industrial applications, lead as a pigment has been replaced by titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, both of which are non-toxic. As drying ., strontium (non-toxic) and zirconium (less toxic than lead) based compounds have also replaced lead.
Like asbestos, lead paint is still in many homes, so the costs, health impacts and financial risks associated with lead paint continue.
Much like PFAS, lead paint impacts babies during development, leading to lifelong impacts. Also like PFAS, as well as microplastics, the phase-out will take decades.
PFAS stands for "Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances." These chemicals are carbon chains with fluorine atoms. The carbon-fluorine bond is incredibly strong. That means these chemicals persist and accumulate in the environment, some potentially for hundreds of years. In fact, they last longer than any other synthetic chemical that exists. In cases where larger PFAS do break down, they break down into smaller PFAS that then also persist and accumulate.
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Historic Chemical Substitutions, Part 1: AsbestosPart one of our four-part series takes a closer look at asbestos and steps that have been taken to replace this highly effective yet harmful chemical.
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