Paints, stains and other architectural coatings produce about 9 percent of the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from consumer and commercial products, making them the second-largest source of VOC emissions after automobiles, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

All paint has three major components, says GreenHome.com: "a pigment for color and hiding powder; a binder that holds the pigment to the surface; and a carrier to maintain the pigment and binder in liquid form."

Traditional household paints contain many chemicals, though not all are necessarily bad. Included are VOCs, which are carbon compounds that exist much like gas: the carbon-based chemicals evaporate at room temperature and react in sunlight to help form ground-level ozone, an integral component of photochemical smog.

They are still readily available in other parts of the country, but this summer the EPA is expected to propose a stricter regulation that would bring the national standards in line with New York and a growing number of states on the East Coast states, according to a recent New York Times report.

Regulations vary widely across the country, as various state and federal regulations have been enacted to reduce VOC levels in paint and other household products over the past decade. The federal government currently caps the VOC content of paint at 250 grams per liter for flat finishes and 380 grams per liter for others. (Note: EPA and state and local rules are intended to reduce emissions of VOCs that cause smog, not to improve indoor air quality.)

If the recent proposal discussed by The New York Times is adopted, sales of oil-based paints would be limited across the country. The rules require manufacturers to bring down VOC levels in their latex paints, which are lower in VOCs than oil-based ones.

Conventional paints are generally classified into two categories, as the government Web site of King County, Washington, points out: "water-based (in which the solvent is water) and oil-based (in which the solvent is an organic liquid, usually derived from petrochemicals)."

The unhealthy ingredients (solvents, toxic metals and VOCs) off-gas into the air during the application and curing of paints, and even after the paints are dry. This "off-gassing," combined with the fact that the paint typically is applied to a large area (like, say, your house, apartment or office building), can lead people spending significant time in freshly painted buildings to have greater-than-normal exposure to VOCs.

The EPA has found that indoor concentrations of VOCs are regularly up to 10 times as high as outdoor concentrations, and can climb up to 1000x as high as outdoor concentrations when you are applying paint. These long exposures to VOCs cause respiratory, skin and eye irritation; headaches; nausea; muscle weakness; and more serious ailments and diseases. (Source: EPA)

As such, increasing pressure from environmental groups and consumers today, as well as stricter regulations, are pushing manufacturers to produce paints with fewer dangerous chemicals. Many manufacturers have developed, or are in the process of developing, new paints to comply with the strictest standards, including Sherwin-Williams, the Home Depot and Benjamin Moore, which introduced its premium low-VOC Aura line last year.

Environmentally preferable paint:

• Lessens the amount of ground-level emissions and negative impact to plant, animal and human health;

• Uses far less toxic solvents and less toxic metal compounds that pollute the air and can have long-term health consequences;

• Includes paint made from recycled content (excess paint that has been recycled); and

• Supports federal greening and sustainability goals, including the purchase and use of recycled content, non-toxic and environmentally safe products.

Yet no paint can truly have zero VOCs; although lower in VOC content, they all generally release some VOCs into the air, even those paints labeled as "no VOC." Less than 5 grams per liter can be considered "zero VOC."

The type and amount of VOCs in paint generally varies with the type and brand.

Resources

The Promise of Green Paint
by Sarah Kershaw
The New York Times, May 15, 2008

Environmentally Preferred Paint Options
King County, Washington, National Park Service - Pacific West Region, December 2006

National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for Architectural Coatings
Environmental Protection Agency, Sept. 11, 1998

Ask TreeHugger: Household Green Paint Alternatives
by Helen Suh MacIntosh
TreeHugger.com, April 17, 2007

Selecting Healthy and Environmentally Sound Paints
by Alex Pennock, Mary Cordaro, Miriam Landman and Willem Maas
GreenHomeGuide, Aug. 09, 2005

Green Seal Launches Groundbreaking New Standard in the Paint Industry
Green Seal, May 12, 2008

GS-11: Green Seal Environmental Standard for Paints and Coatings
Green Seal, May 12, 2008

Indoor Air Quality: Organic Gases (Volatile Organic Compounds - VOCs)
EPA, Nov. 14, 2007 (last updated)