Painting the walls of our homes every year (for those of us who are more particular) or maybe every other year (for those of us who aren’t), is something quite routine. And part of good practice to get us ‘beautiful homes’. Or so we believe.
But what if it isn’t really a good practice? Even a dangerous practice?
Most commercial paints contain toxic chemicals. Even those touted as luxury paints and with ‘Green Pro Certification’ which are ‘free of added APEO and formaldehyde and low in VOC’ — by their own admission still contain some VOCs. (See https://www.bergerpaints.com/products/interior-wall-coatings/silk-glamor-high-sheen)
So what are VOCs? VOCs is short for Volatile Organic Compounds. These are a large group of chemicals, of which some common examples are formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene glycol, toluene, methylene chloride, tetrachloroethylene, and xylene.
(https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/toxins/voc.htm)
Some of these names may be vaguely familiar from high school chemistry. But, though we may not recognise their names easily, we are no strangers to them — VOCs are ubiquitous in modern life.
The Persistence of Toxins
Where else will we find them, apart from paints? All around us.
Varnishes? Yes.
Vinyl flooring? Yes.
Adhesives, composite wood products, upholstered furniture? Cleaning products? Yes, again.
Laminated floors that pretend to be wooden? Yes.
VOCs are also present in stuff we use right next to our bodies, including cosmetics and air fresheners. If you have often found it difficult to breathe in cabs with air fresheners, it isn’t just because of their strong smell. It is what lies underneath and in them: VOCs. VOCs are present in fuel oil too, which is why many of us have problems breathing at petrol stations. Exposure to these volatile compounds can cause potentially severe health effects ranging from nausea to ear, nose and throat irritation; damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system; cancer and respiratory diseases.
Once VOCs are in our homes, they stay. The highest concentrations of VOCs are found in indoor areas when they are freshly painted or newly renovated. Particularly vulnerable are those who work with materials that contain VOCs such as painters, carpenters and upholsterers. But since these volatile organic compounds keep getting released in the air over a long time — called offgassing or outgassing — anyone who inhabits these spaces and rooms is at significant risk. A study published in March 2024 done over two residences at Guangzhou City in South China, observed that building and furniture materials are significant sources of VOCs and determine their long-time indoor levels. It found that: ‘The occupational exposure at the wall painting stage was the highest, and formaldehyde is the most significant contributor to both cancer and noncancer risks.' (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2773049223000430)
VOCs are found outside our homes too — primarily due to automobiles and proximity to factories. However, VOC concentrations in indoor air may still be several times higher than outdoor air. This is generally true for residential areas which have less exposure to vehicles and factories. In fact, because of the shut-down of factories and practically no vehicular movement as well as no home renovation works during COVID in the lockdown period, TVOCs (Total VOCs) decreased significantly. In a study done at five different monitoring sites in Maharashtra, it was found that on an average this decrease was 84%. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9382016/)
First Principles
Now that things are back to normal, and there is as much — and more — heavy industrial production, automobile emission, vehicular movement, construction activity and tree felling, how do we protect ourselves? While we may not have much control over the public domain, we can improve the air quality in and around our homes. There are three main ways to do this:
- through the materials we use,
- through the processes we use to put together these materials,
- through the amount of air circulation that we can ensure.
- The first principle is to switch to materials with less toxins.
It is common sense that the more synthetic the materials — whether used in our buildings or in our personal-care products — the more synthesised chemicals they will have and correspondingly more adverse or toxic effects.
However, completely natural materials may not always be easily available. In that case, choose less synthetic or industrially processed materials wherever possible: natural wood instead of reconstituted wood fibres; stone instead of synthetic floors; mortar instead of chemical glues; natural wax polish and oil instead of chemical varnish and polish. This will definitely make the indoors — where often the most concentrations of toxic VOCs are found — less poisonous.
When it comes to painting our walls (which is what we use to redo our homes most frequently), we can ideally choose traditional practices and processes such as chuna/m or lime-wash rather than dry distemper in order of preference, though dry distemper has less chemicals than plastic emulsion and enamel paint. Apart from VOCs, commercial paints also have very high levels of lead as revealed in studies by NGOs. (https://cdn.cseindia.org/userfiles/lead_paints.pdf; https://toxicslink.org/wpcontent/uploads/2022/08/Lead%20in%20Paints%20in%20India%202019.pdf) Despite resultant government regulations, high levels of lead continue to be present in many commercial paints.
2. The second principle is to be aware of the processes by which these materials are applied onto walls or furniture surfaces. VOCs are found in many adhesives and additives too. If we fix natural materials with synthetic adhesives, or add chemical pigments to paint, there will still be toxins in the air — though obviously lesser than if both the material and the adhesive are synthetic; so choosing natural pigments and glues wherever possible is a good idea.
3. The third principle is that the more air circulation there is, the less the VOCs will stay inside the room and the house. If indoor areas are less ventilated and more artificially cooled or insulated, the VOCs that have already come in will stay with us and in higher concentrations. However, it is important to remember that by increasing air circulation we do reduce our immediate risks but at the cost of redistributing these poisons over a larger area. The toxins will not disappear; they will simply percolate to the outside air. We can further reduce the presence of these toxins in the air by judicious tree plantation which can absorb some of these toxins — but again by transferring the adverse effects to the trees.
The best option is to reduce toxins in the first place, by not choosing to use toxic materials.
Some Alternatives
Indeed why do we use such materials at all if they have such life threatening consequences?
The answer is that most of us are unaware of these consequences. As the opening quote in this piece shows, paint companies have now started stocking and selling commercial paints with less VOCs ( https://www.nerolac.com/healthy-home-paints/what-is-voc.html) but they have not discontinued the regular range of paints with VOCs — which they often price cheaper. Also, low VOC paints are not easily available. In the area of Noida where we live, after much searching we were able to find just one shop that stocks these. So, most people end up using paints with high VOCs because of:
- lack of information about their toxic effects (it is not mandatory to list paint composition in India);
- lack of easy availability of low VOC paints;
- and a real or perceived difference in cost between regular paints and low VOC paints.
Even better than low-VOC paints is no-VOC paints. Recipes of traditional paints in India used perfectly safe ingredients, many of them actually also figure/d in our kitchens: molasses, urad dal, harada, baheda, amla, egg whites. In fact, British administrators in colonial India such as Sir Isaac Pyke took advantage of observing such local Indian practices and made detailed notes of their ingredients, proportions and techniques in 1732 CE, with the objective of sending this information about ‘making the best mortar’ to England to replace or amend their own methods. (https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstl.1731.0041)
The Question of Choice
Most of us are so short on time these days that the convenience of premixed commercial paints, which can be applied quickly to yield a smooth surface that is touted as being durable, is quite irresistible. But, the alternative of chuna or lime wash is also a fairly quick and cost-effective way to paint walls. Or if we find the texture of simple lime-wash too raw for our aesthetics, there is the option of using lime plaster which gives stunning tactile and visual effects. In fact, the shimmering smooth white columns and arches of the Diwan-i-Am, the Hall of Public Audience in the 17th century imperial Red Fort at Delhi, which was actually lime plaster applied on red sandstone, was mistaken for marble by many European visitors!
(See for a discussion)
The dominance of industrial materials has led to a drastic reduction in such building crafts, and it is not easy to find skilled masons in lime. This is also one of the reasons many of us do not find it possible to use lime plasters and renders. However, thanks to the efforts of heritage and craft-organisations, craftspeople who work in such material can be contacted.
We do have to remember that lime plaster and render is a slow process. Like most good things in life, using natural materials generally takes longer than using industrially processed materials. So ultimately, we have to decide which we would rather have — convenience or safety.
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