There's something idyllic about the idea of ushering your family into a freshly painted home: light streams in the bay windows over crisp, newly finished walls and kids run down a hallway yet unmarred with scuff marks. However, in reality, fresh paint can be toxic, even dangerously so — especially to children.
Lead paint used to be a standard in homes across America, but the substance was proven so toxic that it was banned in 1978 . Even today, cities still work to strip old lead paint off infrastructure. Lead flakes aren't the only danger of paint, however.
Modern house paint can be dangerous to touch and produce harmful fumes. Often, it's children who are most at risk. We spoke with two experts about the dangers of paint in the home and what you can do to protect at-risk children. Dr. Brian Christman is a National Spokesperson for the American Lung Association, and Dr. Abby Mutic is the Director of the Southeast Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (SE PEHSU) at Emory University in Georgia.
What danger does paint present to children?
House paint presents an array of dangers for children, but safe use can mitigate these. Both physical paint and paint fumes can be dangerous.
Modern house paint is generally divided into two basic types: oil-based and latex-based . Oil-based paint is composed of resins thinned with petroleum solvents and cleans up with mineral spirits or petroleum thinner. Latex paint is both thinned with and cleans up with water, presenting a much safer option that generally emits far fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Both ingestion and touch are dangerous for kids
Young children often explore with their hands and mouth, so wet house paint, particularly oil paint, can be dangerous.
"Besides the obvious dangers of potential ingestion, painting can also involve cleanup with harmful solvents," Mutic says. "These should never be touched or used by children or within reach. Adults should wear gloves when using, be in a wide-open space with good air flow and circulation and immediately wash hands and clothing with soap and water."
If possible, use a slop sink for cleanup, and be sure that no paint brushes or paint-soaked rags are within reach of kids. Also, be sure that you properly close and seal paint cans and store them properly where they're well out of reach.
VOC inhalation
Beyond touch, paint can emit chemical vapors known as VOCs. "VOCs and sVOCs are air pollutants and generally part of a larger mixture of chemicals that come mostly from consumer products and human activities." Dr. Mutic says. "VOC and sVOC chemicals can easily evaporate at room temperature, which is different than other air pollutants such as those found in particulate matter (i.e. Phthalates, parabans, pesticides)."
Your sense of smell and taste are good at detecting VOCs. When you smell a chemical scent, that means that your body is absorbing the chemicals, Christman tells us. “There’s a tiny layer of liquid all throughout the airways… These VOCs, chlorine gas and cleaners from the home can dissolve in that, and when they do, they start irritating the airways and cause inflammation.”
While VOC exposure often causes symptoms such as headaches and eye and throat irritation, Mutic says that "long-term and intense exposure has been linked to organ damage and cancer."
While light VOC exposure likely won't pose too much of a risk, children or adults with asthma could be more susceptible.
Paint stripping can be dangerous
Fresh paint isn't the only danger of painting. When workers strip paint from walls, it can release large amounts of particles into the air. Christman says that the levels of organic compounds in the air in homes are usually two to five times as high as outdoors. However, "if high exposure activities take place (e.g., paint stripping), levels can increase to 500-1000x outdoor levels."
Is VOC exposure from paint more dangerous for children than for adults?
There are a few reasons that VOC exposure is more dangerous to children. These have to do with both internal physiology and basic habits.
For one, kids are much smaller than adults. "Chemicals fall closer to the ground or settle in dust where children are more likely to encounter them," Mutic says. "Many VOC gases are heavier than air and tend to sink or linger closer to the ground, where children's breathing space is located." While playing on the floor, kids often explore with their mouths, which can lead to the ingestion of harmful particles.
Kids also breath faster than adults. While their lungs pull in more oxygen than those of an adult, they also inhale more VOCs in the air. Additionally, their airways are smaller. If anything irritates these smaller airways and inflames them, it causes a big change in airway resistance.
Christman says that "this is especially important for children with asthma or other chronic respiratory problems (e.g., cystic fibrosis). Anyone with a tendency toward asthma may have worse symptoms when exposed to VOCs at levels high enough to cause airway irritation. It makes the bronchial tubes hyperreactive, so they constrict more than usual when exposed to things like dust or cold air."
Additionally, the physiology of children makes them more susceptible to danger from the chemicals in paint. "Their developing organs (and cells) are susceptible to change and harm," Mutic says. Since their immune systems are also still developing, they "do not easily fight off exposures, viruses or bacteria."
Adults should be OK, but limit exposure
When we asked Christman whether adults should be worried about VOC exposure from house paint, he told us to work smart. “For most adults, it’s not too big a deal... Even if you use high-VOC compounds, it will eventually evaporate and go away.”
However, he warned that consistent exposure to VOCs, as might happen with a professional house painter , can be dangerous and can lead to a laundry list of possible issues, from liver disease to cancer. He also suggested that adults take precautions to mitigate their exposure. For example, don't paint your bedroom, then go to sleep in it before VOCs have cleared the air.
Guidance for painting in homes with kids
Paint safely
Ventilation is key. Neither Mutic nor Christman suggested that you shouldn't paint a home with kids in it; rather, both suggested strategies to paint safely and smartly. "Regardless of the type of paint, it is a good idea to do the work on a temperate day when the windows can be opened and the room can be ventilated with a fan to the outdoors until the paint is dry," Christman says.
If your home's walls are being stripped of paint, be especially careful to ensure that everyone is out of the house and that it is well-ventilated.
Beyond ventilation, Christman suggests steps to keep things safe by tidying up. "Try and clean up everything and store things in sealed containers, don’t have a lot of solvents out evaporating into the space after you’re done, and seal the brushes in some kind of container."
Use low-VOC paint for kids' rooms or less-ventilated spaces
Mutic told us that children often spend 90% of their time learning, playing and sleeping in indoor environments, so it's important to think through how adult practices affect them. This can include taking special precautions and using special low-VOC paint in kids' spaces.
Low-VOC or zero-VOC paints are widely available on the market. When we asked Christman whether these paints can be trusted to have lower VOC emissions, or if their claims should be taken as marketing, he assured us that ' LEED compliant ' and Greenguard Gold labels denote that the paints have been rigorously tested and reliably emit less. He suggested that for maximum safety, you should go for zero-VOC paints, as "these contain less than five grams of VOC per liter."
However, these paints aren't cheap and can be too expensive for many people to commit to in full. Mutic recommends "splurging on the kids' rooms or play areas where kids tend to spend most of their time." Using low-VOC paint in only the most-used spaces can still make a positive difference.
Hire a painter to do the job while you're out of town
If you want to be as safe as possible, consider hiring a painting company to paint your home while you're away. When you give the paint a few days to dry and ventilate through open windows, you'll limit your family's exposure to wet paint, particles from paint stripping and the worst off-gassing.
