"To protect the health of painters, France had passed in 1909 a law banning the use of paints containing lead for the painting of the interior and exterior of all buildings."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_paint

"The League of Nations banned white-lead interior paint in 1922 (you know an environmental regulation is old if it was issued by the League of Nations), but the U.S. declined to implement the ban."

https://environmentlawhistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/lead-regu...

I made no claims about the UK.