Chemical name: Chromic acid (H2CrO4), lead(2+) salt (1:1)

Final regulatory action has been taken for the category: Industrial

Final regulatory action: The chemical is Severely Restricted

Use or uses prohibited by the final regulatory action: The mandatory Standard, NM 03.3.318 2020 (Limit for Lead in Paint) prohibits the use of lead chromates as intentional ingredients in paints, and effectively it prohibits the import and manufacture of paints that contain lead chromates as pigments.

Use or uses that remain allowed: All uses of lead chromates, other than those related to their use as pigments in paints remain allowed. 

The final regulatory action was based on a risk or hazard evaluation: Yes

Summary of the final regulatory action:

The Ministerial Decree
On April 6, 2021, the Ministry of Industry issued the decree of the Minsitry of Industry, Trade, Green and Digital Economy N°959-21 that made the application of the Moroccan Standard NM 03.3.318 (entitled Limit for Lead in Paint) mandatory. The decree is published in the Official Bulletin No. 6988, On May 20, 2021, and it has been indicated that the Moroccan Standard is made available to interested parties at the Moroccan Institute of Standardization.

The Standard
Moroccan Standard NM 03.3.318 2020, entitled Limit for Lead and its compounds in Paint
- States that lead is a toxic metal whose generalized use has led to significant environmental pollution and numerous health problems around the world. Children are especially vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of lead, and even a very low level of exposure can cause serious, or even irreversible, neurological damage. The main sources of human exposure to this heavy metal include lead paint.
- Has the Objective of limiting Lead and its compounds content in paint products.
- Defines the term “Paint” as a liquid coating material, in a paste or powder, which, applied onto a substrate, forms a layer having protective, decorative, and/or specific qualities. For purposes of the Standard, the term “Paint” includes varnishes, lacquers, dyes, enamels, glazed coatings, primers, and coatings, whatever use they may be intended for. And the Standard states that “Paint is usually a mixture of resins, pigments, fillers, solvents, and other additives.”
- Defines the term “Total Lead Content” as the percentage of lead in relation to the weight of the total non-volatile portion or the percentage of lead in relation to the weight of the dry paint film.
- Establishes a limit on the total Lead content in paint of 90 parts per million (PPM), determined according to the standard NM 03.3.022.

The Regulatory Action Severely Restricted the Use of Lead Chromates
Whenever lead chromates are intentionally used as pigments in paints, the concentration of lead compounds in the paint product will, almost always, be substantially greater than 1,000 ppm¹.
By prohibiting the manufacture and import of paints with a concentration of lead compounds greater than 90 ppm, Morocco’s mandatory Limit for Lead and its compounds in Paint effectively restricts the use of lead chromates as intentional ingredients in paints.

¹Toolkit for establishing laws to eliminate lead paint, Paint Basics, Module A-3; Page 14, 2021 Update, Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/37030/PAINT.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y 

The reasons for the final regulatory action were relevant to: Human health

Summary of known hazards and risks to human health:

Summary of the Risk Evaluation

The Moroccan Poison Control Centre (CAPM) is an institution under the Moroccan Ministry of Health and Social Protection. CAPM’s Toxicovigilance Department receives case reports of lead poisoning which have included reports of lead exposures in children who had been exposed to lead from lead paints in their homes. The analysis has concerned patients exposed through paints, and it is known that the lead compound used in paints is lead chromate, and the toxicity of lead chromates is linked to lead, and we aimed through this risk evaluation to assess lead exposure and therefore lead toxicity. 

Furthermore, the Ministry of Health was aware that the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations were encouraging governments to take regulatory actions to control lead and its compounds in paints. For these and other reasons, the CAPM took a renewed interest in topics relating to human lead exposures including exposures of children to lead from lead paints. 

• In 2014, the CAPM’s quarterly toxicology journal, Toxicologie Maroc, put out a special edition on heavy metal poisoning which, among other topics, addressed lead in paints and noted that lead exposures in children can result from their ingesting fragments of deteriorated lead paints. 

• In 2016, CAPM has conducted a information and awareness-raising campaign and other activities with the following aims: measuring the magnitude of the impact of lead exposure on the Moroccan population; raising stakeholder lead exposure awareness; and evaluating the risk to human health in Morocco from exposures to lead from lead paints.
• In 2017 the CAPM, in collaboration with the Moroccan Society of Clinical and Analytic Toxicology (SMTCA), conducted a study on the lead content in paint sold in Morocco. The study found that nearly 40% of the paints that were tested exceeded the WHO-recommended maximum lead concentration of 90 parts per million (ppm) lead in the dry paint film. 

CAPM – with support from SMTCA – then began a more systematic evaluation of the risk to human health in Morocco from lead in paints. 

Toxicological Information 

The evaluation considered toxicological information such as: 
• Children under 6 years of age and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to lead exposure. 
• There is no known threshold level of lead exposure in young children below which neurological deficits do not occur. 
• Exposure to even small amounts of lead can damage a young child's developing brain and cause lifelong, irreversible neurological impairments or deficits. 
• Cohort studies have found that the neurological impairments or deficits resulting from lead exposure can lead to reduced intelligence (as measured by IQ tests), reduced academic performance (as measured by school grades and graduation rates), increased antisocial behaviour (as measured by incarceration rates), and reduced socioeconomic outcomes (as measured by lifetime earnings). 
• When a significant number of a country's young children are exposed to lead (as measured by elevated blood lead levels), there is a cumulative (population-level) health effect that affects a country's economic performance. 

Exposure-Related Information
The assessment took into account exposure-related information such as: 
• Painted surfaces weather, wear and deteriorate over time. When a surface has been painted with lead-based paint, lead-contaminated dust and paint fragments are released into the surrounding indoor and/or outdoor environment and can create lead hazards. 
• Before repainting old painted surfaces, painters often sand or scrape the surface. This can also release lead-contaminated dust and paint fragments into the environment, creating a lead hazard. 
• If a young child plays on the floor (or near ledges) in a home where household dust is contaminated with lead-based paint fragments, or if a young child plays outdoors in an area where the soil is contaminated with lead-based paint fragments, the child is likely to get some of this dust or dirt on his or her hands. 
• Young children typically have normal hand-to-mouth behaviour and suck their fingers. 
• If the dirt (and dust) on a young child's hands is contaminated with leaded paint fragments, the child will typically ingest lead through normal hand-to-mouth behaviour. 
• Lead ingestion is often repeated over time (because young children often get their hands dirty and often put their dirty hands in their mouths). 

The assessment also considered the experience of other countries, particularly the United States. Although the US banned lead-based paint for residential use in 1978, deteriorating lead-based paint and lead-contaminated house dust are still among the most prevalent sources of lead hazards and lead exposure for young children in the US. And tens of millions of U.S. housing units still contain lead hazards from old lead-based paint. 

This information and its supporting data - when adapted to Moroccan conditions - indicate that the anticipated future lead hazards and childhood lead exposures that would result from allowing the continued sale and use of lead paint in Morocco could be expected to result in increased future lead hazards and lead exposures for many future generations of Moroccan young children. 

The conclusions that were drawn: 
• Lead should be considered a significant non-threshold toxicant in young children (because there is no known threshold of lead exposure in young children below which neurological deficits do not occur; and because even low-dose exposures to lead can cause significant lifelong harm to a child's health and well-being). 
• Government should take action to control and prevent significant sources of exposure to non-threshold toxicants where it is practically and socio-economically feasible to do so. 
• As long as lead paint remains available for sale and use nationwide, the potential for lead exposure in young children will increase (surfaces in and around homes and schools will continue to be coated with lead paint). 

Regulatory Action
Based on the risk assessment and its conclusions, CAPM and SMTCA sent notifications to the Moroccan Ministry of Industry (MoI) and the Moroccan Standards Institute (IMANOR) about the need to control the lead content of paints sold and used in Morocco. IMANOR set up a committee with representatives from the MoH, the MoI and Moroccan paint companies to study the matter further. IMANOR then promulgated the Moroccan regulatory standard (NM 03.3.318), which limited the maximum lead content of paints marketed in Morocco to 90 ppm. 

The Ministry of Industry then issued a decree on 6 April 2021 (Decree of, Trade, Green and Digital Economy number 959-21) making the application of the Moroccan standard NM 03.3.318 (on lead limits in paints) mandatory. 

Expected effect of the final regulatory action in relation to human health:

The expected effect of the final regulatory action is reduced risk to human health, by the avoidance of the human exposures to lead from lead paints that would have occurred if the uncontrolled production and sales of lead paints had been allowed to continue.

Some of this expected effect will not occur immediately. There is usually a delay of several years between the time a surface is coated with a lead paint and the time that fragments of that lead paint accumulate in the surrounding dust and soil. 

Date of entry into force of the final regulatory action: 20/05/2021