The latest report comes in the wake of US Consumer Product Safety Commission's enforcement of heightened restrictions on lead in American consumer paints, which will take effect from Aug 9, and will lower the permissible lead limit from 600 ppm to 90 ppm.

'This revised standard for lead in consumer paint is grossly overdue,' adds Clark. 'The previous limit of 600 ppm for lead in new pant was established more than 30 years ago when the blood-lead level of concern was much higher than at present.'

For the current study, Clark analysed 373 new household enamel paint samples of various colours and brands from 12 countries in Africa, Asia and South America -- with a minimum of 10 samples from most countries included in the analysis.

His goal was to determine the amount of lead and how it compared to US standards. His team also analysed the consumer cost of leaded and unleaded paint.

Their research showed that one large multinational company produced low lead paint in each of the countries where it was sampled and another company was found to have stopped using lead in paints in one country during the course of their study.

'These two observations document the fact that the technology is available so that manufacturers do not need to use lead to produce high-quality paint,' said Clark.

These findings have been published in Tuesday's edition of Environmental Research.