UNEP’s Regional Office for Europe and Chemicals and Waste Branch is to hold a regional workshop aimed at supporting countries to establish legal limits on lead in paint.

The workshop will be held in the Moldovan capital Chisinău on 19-20 May and be attended by officials from Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Countries are set to hear the health and environment risks of lead in paint, exchange policies and tools for eliminating it and consider strategies for establishing legal limits for the metal in paint at national, regional and sub-regional levels.

In a resolution, the United Nations Environment Assembly called on UNEP to - together with the World Health Organisation (WHO) - continue to build capacity on lead paint through regional workshops.

UNEP and the WHO convene the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paint, which aims for all countries to set legal limits on the issue by 2020.

Childhood lead poisoning can have lifelong health impacts including learning disabilities and anemia, yet only around 60 countries worldwide have a legally-binding limit in place for the metal in paint.

For more information please write to mijke.hertoghs@unep.org or juan.caicedo@unep.org