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EcoWaste Coalition Hails CBCP’s Stand vs “Religious Ivory,” Urges Bishops to Say “No” to “Religious Lead” As Well

The
EcoWaste Coalition, a toxics watchdog, urged the country’s Catholic bishops to
also say “no” to the use of lead, a hazardous chemical, in religious statues
and other devotional objects. 
The group issued the statement after Archbishop Socrates Villegas, President of
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, appealed to his fellow bishops to shun the use of materials
extracted or derived from protected or endangered animals for devotional items
to discourage illegal ivory trade.
“I appeal to my brother bishops of the Philippines to prohibit the clerics from
blessing any new statue, image or object of devotion made or crafted from such
material as ivory or similar body parts of endangered or protected, nor shall
such new statues or images be used as objects of veneration in any of our
churches,” Villegas said.
The EcoWaste Coalition lauded Villegas and the CBCP for taking an unequivocal
stand against “religious ivory” and expressed its hope that that Catholic
Church will likewise speak out against “religious lead.”
“We pray that the CBCP will similarly call for a stop to the use of lead-containing
paint in religious images, as well as lead-containing pewter in religious
pendants, to make devotional objects safe, especially for young children who
are most vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead,” said Aileen Lucero,
Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.   
According to the World Health Organization, “there is
no known level of lead exposure that is considered safe.” However, “lead
poisoning is entirely preventable,” the WHO said.
“We also hope that such a stand will catalyze the adoption of lead-safe paint
procurement policy in churches and church-related facilities, including
educational institutions, hospitals, orphanages, cemeteries and other
facilities run by religious congregations,” Lucero said. 
Such a position will support and advance the national and global phase-out
targets for lead paint, the EcoWaste Coalition emphasized.
Lucero recalled alerting the CBCP about the high levels of lead in some
religious images sold in Quiapo and Sta. Cruz, Manila through letters sent in April
and June of last year.
A case in point is a 6-inch statue of St. John Paul II that the EcoWaste
Coalition sent to a government-accredited private laboratory for total lead
content analysis.  As per laboratory
report, the saint’s yellow chasuble was found to contain 113,200 parts per
million (ppm) lead, way above the 90 ppm threshold limit for lead in paint
under the DENR’s Chemical Control Order for Lead and Lead Compounds and the US
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
Previous chemical screening conducted by the group
using a portable X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device detected varying levels of
lead in painted statues of Familia Sagrada, Santo
Niño de
Cebu, Santo de la Suerte, St. John Paul II, St.
Joseph, St. Therese of Lisieux and even Pope Francis.
“We consider the presence of lead in religious
statues as a public health issue as the touching
or kissing of revered statues, or wiping them with handkerchiefs or towels, may
cause their paint coatings to be disturbed and to come off in time, contaminating
the dust with lead that the faithful may ingest or inhale as they kiss or touch
the sculpture,” Lucero said.

Dr. Scott Clark, professor emeritus of
environmental health at the University of Cincinnati, USA, who advises the
EcoWaste Coalition on the issue of lead paint said that: “Children 6 years old
and under are most at risk because they  are more vulnerable to the
harmful effects of lead.  They absorb a higher percentage of the lead and
their systems are developing at a higher rate.  They also tend to put
things in their mouth more often, including non-food things like toys.”

Finally, the group reiterated
its hope that the CBCP will use its moral authority to persuade religious craft
makers to produce devotional pendants that are safe from lead.
The group had earlier detected exceptionally high levels of lead in pewter or
pewter-like religious pendants with lead content ranging from 170,000 ppm to
420,000 ppm.
-end-

Reference:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/