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Health and Safety

KROMA acrylic colours are water-based and made from materials that are considered nontoxic. The exceptions to this rule are the colours made from cadmium pigments and cerulean blue, which is made from a cobalt pigment. Please read further for information on these specific colours.


MSD sheet for dry pigments (excluding cadmium and cobalt pigments)

MSD sheet for paint (excluding cadmium and cobalt colours)

MSD sheet for cadmium and cobalt paint

MSD sheet for cadmium and cobalt dry pigments

 

General health and safety information for cadmium and cobalt pigments and artist colours:

People may be concerned about using products containing heavy metals such as cadmium and cobalt. While in other forms these substances can be toxic, when prepared in the form of pigments, which are insoluble particles, and then encased in the film forming resins of acrylic paint, the bioavailability of these materials is reduced to levels not considered to pose a health threat. In the form of acrylic paint these pigments, or indeed any other of our pigments, cannot enter the blood stream.

Your choice whether or not to use paints containing these pigments will depend on the nature of the project you are using them for. If, for example you are decorating nursery furniture, or painting toys to be handled by young children where there is a chance of accidental ingestion, extra caution would be appropriate. Similar caution should be used with projects that involve painted surfaces that are to be sanded (which creates dust), or heated (which creates fumes).

Nor should cadmium or cobalt paints be applied as a spray without the use of an approved respirator.

It should be noted that while these pigments hold some unique properties that some artists may prefer, there are suitable alternative pigments to choose from that can closely match their hues.

KROMA does not make any paint that contains lead.

For those who purchase cadmium or cobalt in their powdered form as dry pigments, a respirator and gloves should be used, and, while all pigments, being dusts, should be handled in this way, extra caution should be employed to avoid accidental inhalation or ingestion.