<P> Following this, white lead continued to be added to some paint available to professional decorators for specialist use . Additionally, paint with low white lead levels was applied as a thin primer coat to some pre-fabricated domestic wooden windows until the early 1980s . </P> <P> In 1992 European Union legislation was implemented within the UK by the Environmental Protection, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), as the Controls on Injurious Substances Regulations . This prevented the addition of white lead to almost all paints except those intended for use in historic buildings and as artwork . </P> <P> The lead - based pigments (lead tetroxide / calcium plumbate, or "red lead") were widely used as an anti-corrosive primer coating over exterior steelwork . This type of paint might have been applied to garden gates and railings, guttering and downpipes and other external iron and steel work . </P> <P> Similar red lead - based compounds were also widely used as a jointing compound in engineering, to form steam - or oil - tight flanged joints in pipework . </P>

When were lead pipes banned in the uk