Rich Countries Are Exporting Thousands of Tons of Toxic Paint Pigment to Poor Countries

One in three children globally suffer from lead poisoning, which harms their health and educational development. While there’s a lot we still don’t know about where exposure comes from, most experts would agree that a key source is lead paint, of which one key additive is the pigment lead chromate. Non-toxic alternatives to lead chromate have existed for decades—there's simply no need for it in 2025, which is why the European Union effectively prohibited its sale or use in 2021, and countries such as Sweden haven’t used lead paint for decades.

In a new CGD paper published today, we present new data showing that rich countries including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain, continue to export lead chromate to poor countries. Confirmed exports are in the hundreds of tons, but the partial nature of our data means that we estimate the true figure to be in the thousands. This is despite these countries placing bans or strong restrictions on the use of lead chromate in their own territories. The countries they export to (see Figure 2) frequently have weak regulations and low capacity to monitor its use, and lead chromate has been found in highly hazardous applications in these countries, such as in domestic paints or children’s toys.

Exports are dominated by India, and are sufficient to poison over a million children each year

Our data provides a partial picture, as it only covers 25 countries, but it can provide a lower bound on total exports, and can pinpoint lead chromate pigments more precisely than standard trade data (accessible through UN COMTRADE). Most exports come from India, China, and other middle-income countries (see Figure 1). By using an extrapolation approach, we estimate that total global exports amount to 24,000 tons annually. In our paper, we estimate this to be enough to poison 1.45 million children, although the harm posed by exports from any particular country or company depends on their end-use, which we cannot determine.

Figure 1. Largest flows of lead chromate paint pigment from all countries.

Note: This figure shows confirmed exports to the 25 reporting countries for which we have data. High-income countries are coloured in gold, and middle-income countries in teal. “Supplier country” is the country registration of the exporting company, whereas country of export is the country from which goods were physically exported. So, for example, a large quantity of exports were made by firms registered in the Cayman Islands but with few actual goods travelling via the Cayman Islands, and a large quantity of goods were physically exported from Spain, but not by Spanish-registered firms.

Exports from rich countries are enough to poison hundreds of thousands of children

We also estimate that rich countries export around 3,000 tons annually to poor countries. This is sufficient to poison an estimated 277,000 children, although the harm posed by exports from any particular country or company depends on their end-use, which we cannot determine. From 2022 to 2024, firms based in Canada exported a confirmed 200 tons annually, while firms from the US and UK exported over 100 tons. As discussed, these figures are likely to be significant underestimates, given that the data are not comprehensive. These countries should be leading the charge to fully eliminate this harmful chemical globally, not profiting from the problem.

This is a tiny export industry—the dollar value of confirmed exports total around $1 million annually from Canada, the largest rich-country exporter. But by facilitating the use of lead in applications where it could result in exposure, it is contributing to a problem with an enormous human cost. We estimate that childhood lead exposure is responsible for a fifth of the gap in educational achievement between rich and poor countries, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that it kills 1.5 million people annually, more than HIV or malaria.

Figure 2. Largest flows of lead chromate paint pigment from high-income to middle-income countries

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What can governments do to curtail this toxic trade?

1. All countries should move toward a complete ban on lead chromate manufacture and export in the long-term. High-income countries should prioritize ending exports of lead chromate to poor countries.
2. Countries should prevent their territories from being used as pass-through points for lead chromate shipments—a particular issue for shipments routed from India through Spain to Mexico.
3. Low- and middle-income countries should raise awareness of the toxicity of lead and lead paint among their own public, to reduce demand in the long-term.
4. The Rotterdam Convention, which governs trade in hazardous chemicals, should add lead chromates to its list of regulated substances. The next opportunity for this comes at the April-May 2025 Conference of Parties.
5. The World Customs Organization should assign lead chromate its own tracking code, making it easier to monitor global trade in this toxic substance.