Paint safety guide

First things first; which pigments should we be wary of.

In our LMColors collection we don’t carry many toxic pigments, but we do carry some.

The main ones to look out for are Manganese Violet (PV16) and Cobalt Green (PG26, PG50), if any are added in the future this list will be expanded.

Pigments are most harmful in their dust state, so as a customer and painter, this is not something you will have to worry about. There are still some things to keep in mind though.

Manganese is a natural mineral, which our body needs, so in small amounts, these manganese-containing pigments will not cause any harm to you. However, major exposure can lead to diarrhea, and in extreme cases disorders surrounding the nervous system. These symptoms will not occur when using your paints wisely. [1]

Cobalts can cause an allergic reaction when exposed to a concentrated form on the skin, and when ingested they can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and hot flashes [2], there seem to be no major health risks when working with a paint solution of this pigment, most major health risks seem to be linked to dust particles [3].

Humans need a significantly higher dosage of these substances to experience any damage from them, however, aquatic life is more susceptible to this, as well as the dosage climbing in waterways if everyone just dumps their cobalt & manganese-containing waste into the systems [4] [5].

The first, most obvious, way to protect yourself, is to not drink your paint water, or consume paints containing these pigments in any other way. This also means keeping these paints away from children and animals.

If you do end up drinking your paint water, which contained any of the toxic pigments, we recommend calling the poison control center of your country. The amount you digested might be small enough to not cause any harm, but it might also be too much (especially if you do not rinse out your paint cup regularly), and the poison control center will be best in advising you how to advance.

This is mainly the case for Cobalt, and not Manganese. If you drink any paint water containing manganese, we recommend just drinking a few glasses of regular water, this will dilute the pigment further and help flush out your system. If you end up drinking large amounts of manganese we recommend calling the poison control center, just to be safe, although this seems to be less critical [6].

To prevent any of these pigments from entering the environment, we recommend letting all paint particles settle in your paint cup, before disposing of the water.

One way to do this is by leaving your paint water in the cup for about 24 hours, then carefully pouring out the liquid on top, and wiping the settled pigment with a paper towel. This paper towel can then be thrown away in the regular garbage bin. If you use a lot of toxic pigments you can also collect these tissues in a separate pot, and once full, dispose of this at your local waste disposal program, they will be equipped to deal with large amounts of toxic chemicals.

This video demonstrates the way this can be done: YouTube.

An other way to dispose paint water is by pouring it in a pot with sand. You can keep this pot in your garden and dispose water with toxic particles in this pot. Make sure there is no drainage hole in the pot you use! This pot can be used for a long time, depending on the pot size even for a few years. Once this pot is saturated you can dispose of it at your local waste disposal facility, as stated with the previous method.

If you use the second method, please make sure to cover the pot, to make sure wildlife does not go into the pot, or bathe/drink from the freshly added paint water.