Low VOC Interior Paint and Other Healthy Alternative PaintFrom Bob Formisano at about.com

Green Seal's April 2006 "Proposed Environmental Standard and Environmental Evaluation of Recycled Content Latex Paint" states the following related to the continued release of VOC's from latex paints:

"Although many of the toxic materials found in paints have been reduced in recent years due to legislation, especially among latex paints, some may still be released as the paint dries and the compounds volatilize, while others continue to be released into the ambient environment after the paint dries when there is no detectable odor...Paint emissions can continue for extended periods of time after application and Sparks et al.

(1999) estimated that less than 50% of the VOC's in latex paint (applied to a surface) are emitted in the first year. Compounds studied include ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, Texanol®, and butoxyethanol."

So the bottom line is that VOC's continue to be released well after paint is dry.

Now that we have a good understanding of what VOC's are and the health risk standard paint can have especially to young children and people with asthma, let's review each type of alternative paint and see what they are made from and how they differ as an alternate choice to standard paints.