Paint your rooms enviro-friendly and safe

(Feb 19, 2008) You’re not only adding colour to your home with most commercial paints. You’re also slapping on benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, xylene, and ethylene glycol. These neurotoxins are complex enough to vaporize (off gas) into the air, polluting what you breathe.

Allergic reactions common
Did you feeling a bit light-headed last time you painted the living room? You may have been reacting to the paint vapours, also called VOCs. They can linger for up to three months, causing eye, nose and throat irritation, nausea, dizziness and headaches.

Different alternatives
Fortunately there are alternatives like the low-VOC and zero-VOC paints available, thanks to new regulations and consumer demand. These enviro-friendly paints are just as durable and cost about the same amount as mid-range conventional paint. There are some differences you should be aware of before buying.

Natural paints and finishes: Use natural raw ingredients to produce a paint that gives off no smell. Popular ingredients include plant dyes, oils and resins; minerals such as clay, chalk and talcum; natural oils and waxes such a bee’s wax; milk casein and natural latex. The oil-based natural paints smell like citrus or essential oils. Natural paints are the safest for your health and for the environment. Very few people have allergic reactions to them.

Zero-VOC: This is a trickier label. Any paint with that meets the EPA Standard of 5 g/L (grams per litre) or less can be classified zero-VOC. But these paints can still have colourants, biocides and fungicides -- all equally as toxic. Check the label carefully.

Low-VOC: These paints, stains and varnishes use water as a carrier, contain no petroleum-based solvents and have very low levels of heavy metals and formaldehyde. Again you have to be careful with this label since any paint with the EPA minimum requirement of no more than 250 g/L and no more than 380 grams g/L for oil-based can be considered low-VOC.

Low-VOC still have enough VOCS to off-gas -- they just won’t stay around as long as conventional paint. Reputable paint manufacturers will advertise their paint as low-VOC when it has 50 g/L or less. Look for paints with the Green Seal Standard (GS-11) certification or the Green Guard Air Control label. Keep in mind that when you add tints the VOC ratio is bumped up.

Manufacturers
There is a wide range of paints out there. Some are easier to find than others and it all depends on what you are looking for. You have to shop around:

The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co., Inc.: All natural milk casein based paints.

Sherwin Williams: Harmony line is zero-VOCs while the Duration line is low-VOC.

Totem Designs Canada: lime-based natural paint and enviro-friendly synthetic

Benjamin Moore: The long-standing Pristine Eco Spec is low-VOC at under 10 g/L. The new AURA line is also low-VOC.

American Pride: synthetic, water-based zero-VOC paint.

Green Planet Paints: natural clay paints.

Shelagh McNally is the editor of Green Living Online. She is also busy painting her house.


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