What are the differences in New Duo and Elite Duo paints?

Hi Folks;

On the Duo "Elite" label; I've wondered about it. Does anyone know if "Elite" results from changes to the paints, and if so, what those changes are?

Just looked at Holbein's web site again. Reading all the fine print I think they are saying Elites dry faster than standard Duos and that they use heavy metals in some of them.

Looking at the Duos I received recently, all the tubes say "New Duo Aqua Oil" on them. Some say "Elite". Holbein paints have been considered safer than others because they used components with lower levels of toxicity. Hopefully this has not changed in spite of the "New" labeling. It appears that the "Elites" are additional colors, but I'm not familiar enough with Duos to know if any of the old colors have been dropped.

So the questions seem to be;

(1) Are the "New" but not "Elite" paints still as low in toxicity as their old counterparts?
(2) If so, what's new about them?
(3) Are all the old versions of Duo available as "New" but not "Elite" paints?
(4) Do all "Elites" contain some higher toxicity components?
(5) If not, is their a quick way to identify which ones do?
(6) Is Holbein embracing the more toxic paints at the expense of the lower toxicity paints, or are they making a commitment to support both?

Given that a couple of us have had trouble getting answers from Holbein in the past, I don't expect direct answers to the above. But it does lead one to wonder. Can anyone else shed some light on this?

Regards,

From their website: "As the popularity of Duo continues to grow, so does the Duo line. In the new mix are 17 “Elite” colors signifying the use of heavy metal pigments including quinacridones, cadmiums and cobalts. There is truly no other water soluble oil alike."

Other than cadmiums and cobalts, their Elites are a Naples Yellow, cerulean, verditer blue, spinel black, and yellow ochre 'natural.' They still haven't put up color chart info on their website, but looking at Blicks: Naples yellow is a mix using cadmium and verditer is cobalt (PB28) with white. Their cerulean is genuine, PB35, which is cobalt stannate. Spinel is PBk28 which carries an inhalation warning. Yellow Ochre using PO43 may contain manganese. Quinacridones aren't considered hazardous.

What's new is they didn't use to carry those pigments as WMO, but did in their conventional oil line. They also dropped a few colors, changed some names, or changed the mixtures.

It appears everything that's labeled "elite" has a hazard warning, assuming their yellow ochre natural has manganese. I wouldn't say their "embracing" more toxic pigments since they still offer substitute "hues." Mostly what they did was add more pigment options. The most serious aspect of the "elites" is inhalation warnings, so as long as you don't sand your paintings or eat your paint you shouldn't worry.

Hi David;

Thanks for providing that information. I'm glad that Holbein is using a consistent method of identifying their more hazardous paints. Hopefully they will get their web site updated with this kind of info soon.

Regards,
Jim