Lead Paint Analysis

ASTM’s paint committee is developing a standard for rapid analysis of new paint samples for the determination of lead content.

Oct 24, 2024

ASTM International’s paint and related coatings, materials, and applications committee is developing a proposed standard that focuses on the recalibration of pXRF analyzers using new paint samples that have known concentrations of lead, improving the accuracy of the individual pXRF analyzer.

Mercer University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), among others, are working to support the effort, which would support the enforcement of standards to eliminate lead in paint manufactured in or imported into a country referred to as “new paint.”

According to ASTM members Adam Kiefer and Caryn Seney, this method will fill the gap in lower- and middle-income countries, allowing for a rapid, cost-effective analysis of new paint samples supporting existing lead paint regulations or the introduction of new regulations.

The proposed standard (WK92076) has the potential to accelerate the efforts of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (a partner of ASTM, Mercer and EPA) to help countries effectively implement lead paint laws.

Currently, there is no direct method to determine low levels of lead in new paint outside conventional, spectroscopic methods, which are both cost-prohibitive and complex to use.

As noted by Kiefer and Seney, both chemistry professors at Mercer University, “There was no capacity in many of these countries to analyze and quantify lead in paint, and so very few people knew that it was in new paint. We want to demonstrate that the less expensive pXRF alternative can be used in lower- and middle-income countries in place of very expensive, highly technical instruments. Ultimately, it would be most protective to prevent lead paint being applied to surfaces, which starts with rapid screening of new paint being manufactured in a country or coming into port before these new paints make it on the store shelf.”

Stakeholders in the sectors of manufacturing, civil society, industry, and academia are encouraged to participate in the development of WK92076, both as potential subcommittee/task group members and/or by providing certified lab testing capabilities to validate the method. Become a member at www.astm.org/JOIN.