Stick with Safe Paint

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Besides solvents, heavy metals and crystalline silica (beach sand) are added to paint for color or texture. These ingredients aren't a problem when suspended in liquid paint, but they are considered carcinogens if inhaled (which can occur when sanding or scraping). Ammonia is used to inhibit bacteria and mold, and to help the paint "flow" off the brush or roller. And although none of the major paint companies use lead or mercury anymore, paints with mildewcide additives still contain trace amounts of formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a respiratory irritant and potential carcinogen.

For this reason, chemically sensitive individuals need to be especially careful about using kitchen and bath paints that contain extra mildewcides.

Request a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) from the paint store to get information on everything that goes into the paint. If the store can't provide one, check the manufacturer's Web site or call their customer help line.

ALL NATURAL SOLUTIONS

Vibrantly colored paints predate modern VOC-based paints by several centuries. The old painted walls of many buildings in Italy, Egypt and Greece attest to the fact that combinations of natural resins, oils, clays, and mineral or plant pigments can be both durable and lightfast. Today, companies such as Bioshield and Sinan have refined those ancient recipes to offer a no-VOC line of plant- and earth-based paints and finishes. (The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company offers a casein, or milk, paint made from a mixture of lime, earth pigments and milk protein.) Because you mix them yourself, these products offer more artistic creativity. They can be applied full-strength for regular coverage, or thinned to produce a washed effect.

Because natural paints don't use the same solvents that give other paints smoothness and uniformity, they can be a little trickier to apply and tend to give walls a more handcrafted appearance. Natural paints are sometimes sold as a powder, or the pigment is sold separately from a liquid base, requiring you to do the mixing. In these cases, you'll want to make enough for one full coat: Exactly matching one batch to the next is nearly impossible.

Natural paints are not always compatible with other paint products. Milk paint works well on new wood and plaster, but can pull off old paint if it's not adhered well. Milk paints applied over latex binder (used in drywall joint compound) may "crackle." Some natural paints also waterspot easily. For walls or furniture that require extra protection, you may need to apply a topcoat of varnish or polyurethane, which means an extra step and the potential for additional chemical exposure.

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Athena Thompson

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