greenliving
Breathe
easy —
It’s green
Paint
by Amber lanier Nagle
The Environmental
Protection Agency warns
V
olatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that vaporize
readily into the air we breathe. Paints traditionally contain VOCs, and as the
paint dries, those compounds evaporate into our homes. In fact, paints can
that the air inside our homes
release low levels of toxins into the air for years after application.
From headaches and dizziness to asthma attacks and other respiratory prob-
is significantly more toxic
lems, many of us have experienced such symptoms of short-term exposure after
and polluted than the air
painting a room in our house. Long-term exposure to VOCs has been linked to
even more serious health problems, including kidney and liver disease and cancer.
outside, even in America’s
Children, the elderly, and people with respiratory illnesses or compromised im-
heavily industrialized
mune systems are particularly susceptible to the effects of certain paint toxins.
After the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified VOCs as major
regions. Many indoor paints,
contributors to the formation of smog, they set acceptable VOC levels for consum-
carpets and plastics contain
er products; most paint manufacturers complied by reducing VOCs in their paints.
But Green Seal, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming
hazardous chemicals that the marketplace, didn’t believe the EPA went far enough in protecting the environ-
outgas over time and can be
ment and human health, so they set more stringent standards for paints.
Green Seal-certified paints, listed at
GreenSeal.org, have much lower VOC
detrimental to our family’s levels and don’t use certain dangerous chemicals in the manufacturing process.
health. With so much time
If a product meets or exceeds the organization’s criteria, Green Seal allows the
manufacturer to include their certification mark on the product label.
spent indoors, we do well
to select greener, healthier
Here’s a useful guide to use when shopping:
products to use inside our
low vOC Paints
homes. Fortunately, we have Today, most major paint companies offer several low-VOC paint products. These
options.
have fewer VOCs than the conventional paints of the past and less of that ‘fresh
paint’ odor. According to the EPA, flat interior paint is considered low-VOC if its
VOC content is less than 250 grams per liter (g/l), or 380 g/l for non-flat interior
paints. Green Seal’s more aggressive threshold is 50 g/l for flat interior paint, and
150 g/l for non-flat interior coatings.
2 Collier / Lee Counties
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