Four presidential candidates earned the most “green” points for their extensive inputs on how they would integrate chemical safety from products into the country’s health, environment and development agenda once they are elected.

Evaluators of the Green Electoral Initiative (GEI) survey said presidential bets environmentalist Jesus Nicanor Perlas (independent), Senator Richard Gordon (Bagumbayan), evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva (Bangon Pilipinas), and Senator Jamby Madrigal (independent) offered the most extensive inputs on chemical safety through consumer information and education, product labeling, and public disclosure of chemicals in materials, products and wastes.

Gordon and Madrigal pointed to the health and environmental hazards posed by lead in paints.

“We cannot allow toxins that severely affect human health – and intellectual capacity at that – to proliferate,” Gordon said.

Meanwhile, Perlas and Villanueva reiterated that alternatives to lead in paints exist and need to be tapped.

“But we need a strong consumer protection agency that is free from inappropriate industry influence—one that involves civil society participation" Perlas said.

On the broader issue of chemical safety, Perlas emphasized the need to address not only the harmful chemicals in consumer products, but also the toxins in agriculture, energy and mining sectors, while also underlining the need to heighten consumer awareness regarding the importance of reading and understanding the labels placed on food products.

For his part, Gordon said, “(I will) require manufacturers to fully and properly disclose and register on a publicly accessible registry linked to other similar registries in other countries the chemical components of their raw materials, consumer products, and waste, and make exposures to the general public of toxic substances become an issue of consumer safety, and work with Congress to amend existing environmental and consumer protection laws.”

Villanueva proposed the establishment of a broad chemicals safety information network that will enable information on chemicals, their properties and their safe handling and management to thoroughly penetrate the public consciousness.

In addition to issuing an executive order on chemical safety, Madrigal pledged to initiate a review on the country’s policy on poison control and regulation.

Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III (Liberal Party), Senator Manuel Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party) and Olongapo City Councilor JC de los Reyes also favored lead-free paints to promote the health and wellness of Filipino, especially the children.

The third installment of EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace-led GEI survey results showed Perlas ranked first with 9.1 points, followed by Gordon 7.9, Villanueva 6.98, Madrigal 6.26, Villar 6.16, Aquino 5.14 and de los Reyes 1.8.

The other two candidates, former President Joseph Estrada and former Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., failed to earn points in the green ranking exercise for not responding to the survey.

According to the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead in Paints, an international partnership jointly coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization, “children are particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of lead, and even relatively low levels of exposure can cause serious and in some cases irreversible neurological damage.”

According to UNEP and WHO, lead has caused extensive environmental contamination, human exposure and health problems, including neurologic, hematologic, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and renal system ailments.