Chaos Black Primer Recalled Becasue of Lead Concerns

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South Korea recalled Chaos Black primer after finding lead, but the story blowing up online doesn’t quite match the evidence.

You could easily write this off as another wild paint rumor, but it is real. Korean recall records list Chaos Black, name Games Workshop Korea as the importer, and say lead was found.

What Korea hasn’t said is that every Citadel spray tested positive for lead. That incorrect version spread fast, but it skips a pretty important detail. So, if you’ve got a can sitting beside your desk, especially since so many hobbyists start with Citadel paint, you probably want to know what was actually recalled and what people are still guessing about.

Looks Official as GW Korea is on the Paperwork

Korean officials weren’t running an investigation aimed at GW. On September 23, South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment published a safety investigation covering 2,213 household chemical products. Of those, 220 broke Korean safety standards or otherwise failed to meet them. Paints, coatings, fragrances, and adhesives were all caught in the same sweep, so Chaos Black wasn’t the only product getting looked at.

Then you get to the actual recall information. It lists Chaos Black, names Games Workshop Korea Co., Ltd. as the importer, and says lead was detected. A Korean retail safety notice says the same thing, with GW Korea listed as the importer and the UK named as the country of origin.

Could the cans have been counterfeit? That idea has been floating around, but it doesn’t fit very well with GW’s Korean office appearing on the import paperwork. Fake cans don’t normally arrive with Games Workshop Korea listed as the company bringing them into the country.

Epxlaining the “All Sprays Banned” Headline

The registration number is where the “all sprays have lead in them” claim starts to make sense. Chaos Black is listed under notification number DA26-15-0002, and Korea barred products using that number from distribution. Hobbyists noticed that other GW sprays apparently use it too. So, if they do, those cans could be pulled from shelves even if officials never tested each one for lead.

You can see how places like Reddit can go from one recalled primer to “all Citadel spray cans.” The original r/Warhammer40k thread said every rattle can was being banned. A commenter later pointed out that the lead finding appears to involve Chaos Black, and the mods added pretty much the same warning. And yes, for once the mods on Reddit actually did their jobs…

So yeah, both claims can be true at the same time. Korea could block every spray registered under DA26-15-0002 while Chaos Black remains the only one named in connection with the lead finding.

The good news is that the number also gives you something to check on your own can. But keep in mind one person already reported an older Chaos Black can marked DB24-15-0028 instead of DA26-15-0002 even.

Nobody Has Said How Much Lead Was Actually Found

Online posts keep treating two different statements as if they mean the same thing. “Lead was detected” is not the same as saying “Chaos Black is lead paint.” Korea hasn’t published how much it found, how officials tested the primer, or which batches they checked.

So, nothing in the recall proves that GW is selling lead paint worldwide.

A pile of unanswered questions remains, though: How much lead did they find, and what limit does Korea use for this kind of product? Were the other sprays tested, or did they get pulled because they share a registration number? Does GW make the whole aerosol in-house, or could the lead have come from the pigment, propellant, can, or another supplier?

If You Prime Outside Korea, We’d Use Caution for Now

For anyone outside Korea, there is also cause for concern as well. We couldn’t find a UK, EU, or worldwide recall, and nothing official tells us whether this involves just one batch, the Korean stock, all spray primers, or just Chaos Black everywhere. The cans recalled in Koreado list the UK as their country of origin, so cans sold elsewhere could come from the same place, but we don’t have test results showing that they do.

So until GW explains what happened, we’d be careful with Chaos Black and all GW sprays. Use them outdoors or somewhere with proper airflow, wear a mask, and wash up after priming your miniatures before doing anything else.

Fortunately, other black undercoats are available, including Army Painter spray primers, Monument Hobbies, and Color Forge. You can also compare those with the other options in our list of best primers.

Final Thoughts on the Chaos Black Primer Recall

GW has dealt with product problems before, including the super glue recall and the defective Maelstrom product that retailers received refunds for.

So, a recall isn’t new territory for the company. Staying quiet about this one is the odd part.

At some point, GW has to talk about this. Korea published the announcement on September 23, hobbyists picked it up around September 30, and as of today, Games Workshop and Warhammer Community haven’t said anything. People use this stuff around their homes and hobby tables. Of course they want to know what was found and whether the can on their shelf is affected.

This doesn’t need a huge announcement, but until GW answers those questions, people are stuck piecing the story together from Korean notices and Reddit posts.

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What do you think of the Chaos Black primer recall, and are you still spraying it until GW speaks up?

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