By Linda Ligon
What do you smell after painting a room? If you use conventional solvent-based interior wall paint it might include as much as 60 percent volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as formaldehyde, benzene, and acetone. These can result in health problems ranging from temporary dizziness and respiratory distress to severe allergic reactions and more.
More than a billion gallons of paint is used each year in the United States. It’s estimated that the VOCs in paint contribute as much as 9 percent of the atmospheric pollution that is detrimental the ozone layer. Likewise, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that indoor pollution is responsible for more than 11,000 deaths from cancer, kidney failure, and respiratory collapse annually. Deadly lead and mercury have been banned from use in paint, and water-based latex is increasingly replacing more toxic oil-based enamels, however, the threat to personal and environmental health posed by paint is not a minor problem. Fortunately, there are other options.
Improved Products
We’ve come to understand the health risks of traditional paint products and government regulations have encouraged the paint industry to make safer alternatives. Public buildings such as schools and health care facilities have code requirements that limit toxic ingredients and VOCs for interior finishes. Paint manufacturers, such as Benjamin Moore and Glidden, have created consumer product lines that adhere to the same safety standards. They include water-based acrylic latex primers, paints, and enamels that are low-odor and low- or zero-VOC.
American Formulating and Manufacturing (AFM) is a company devoted to creating environmentally healthy building and interior furnishing products of all kinds which include zero-VOC wall paints. Their sealer can be used over conventional paints to reduce or eliminate the discharge of unsafe fumes into the environment.
What are the disadvantages? The chemical makeup of these products might not address the needs of those with severe allergies, additional paint may be needed to get full coverage, and choices are limited to lighter colors at this time.
Green Options
Vivid colors were available centuries before the birth of modern chemistry. That can be shown by looking at walls from ancient Greece, Egypt, and Mexico. A German company that offers a full line of zero-VOC paints, wood finishes, thinners, cleaners, and adhesives based on natural ingredients is Bioshield, whose products have been available in the United States for two decades. Its transparent and translucent wall glazes and washes can be used over existing paint as well as newly painted surfaces, and its zero-VOC emulsion and casein, or milk-based, paints offer a more conventional opaque treatment.
Milk might seem like an odd paint base until you consider that Elmer’s Glue contains milk. The protein in milk is water soluble, yet it dries to a durable finish that can last for years. Milk paint is sold as a powder, which includes casein from the milk, plus lime and clay. It may be mixed with additional water for a wash effect, or less water for solid coverage. The trick is to not mix more than you will use in a day or so, as the milk solids, if not allowed to quickly dry, can spoil and leave a persistent odor. The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company is a domestic firm that has recreated an early American milk paint formula in colors ranging from barn red to federal blue.
Natural pigments that mix easily with these natural bases are magnificently varied in color and can be mixed for both deep, vivid hues and pale, subtle tints. Many are minerals derived from earth or stone and are ground to fine powders for uniform mixing. Mixing your own paint from milk and minerals does not result in the perfectly consistent finish that we’ve come to expect from commercial latex or oil-based paints in which the chemical pigments are scientifically formulated and measured with great accuracy. Further, the natural paints don’t contain the solvents that make conventional paints so smooth and uniform. Natural paints are intended to give walls a handcrafted, naturally weathered character.
Locating craftspeople to work with natural paints is not simple. The paints require a bit of experimentation and an adventurous spirit—which only increase their beauty. Whether you go for the uniqueness of natural paints or the more practical low- or zero-VOC conventional alternative, the health benefits for yourself, your family, and the earth are beyond value.
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