Background: An Annex XV restriction dossier for cadmium in artists’ paints was submitted by an EU member state to the European Chemicals Agency ECHA. By cleaning used brushes under the tap cadmium can enter the food chain via waste water treatment and subsequent agricultural application of the sewage sludge. It was estimated that 110 kg Cd per year is spread on agricultural land via this exposure route. Other sources of Cd amount to almost 120 tons per year.
Results: The mobility of Cd from pigments was studied in a field-like scenario by leaching experiments using soil samples amended with sewage sludge and spiked with Cd pigments in percolation columns. The redox conditions were confirmed to be the decisive factor for the release of Cd. The release of Cd from artists’ paints was in most cases 1% or lower in the experiments performed.
Conclusions: Application of sewage sludge containing Cd from artist paints does not increase the amount of Cd leached from this soils. Furthermore the quantity of Cd from artists’ paints calculated in the restriction dossier is negligible compared to other sources of Cd to agricultural soil. Therefore ECHA did not consider the proposed restriction to be the most appropriate EU wide measure to address the negligible level of risk.
Façade coatings are exposed to weathering. Driving rain events can cause façade runoff bearing the potential to release substances from the coating. In order to derive reliable and reproducible information about this so-called leaching (emission into water), a laboratory test method has been developed, that has been published as European Standard EN 16105:2011. An interlaboratory comparison has been performed with 8 participants in order to validate the test method. This article describes the test results that reveal statistics on the quality of the test method and allows further insights to the leaching mechanism in coatings.