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Detecting and Removing Lead Paint
Healthy Child Healthy World
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Find out how to detect lead paint in your home -- and what to do to contain or remove it.
Lead poisoning is perhaps the most commonly known children’s environmental health issue. Lead is the number one environmental health hazard to children in the United States. Even so, more than 40 percent of U.S. homes built before 1978 – about 38 million – contain lead paint, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Though lead-based paint was banned in this country in 1978, children continue to be exposed to it, most typically from chipping or peeling old paint.
The Dangers of Old, Lead-Based Paint
Lead, a heavy metal, is a highly toxic neurotoxin. Lead poisoning in children can cause lowered IQ, memory loss, learning disabilities, impaired hearing reduced attention spans, aggression, and other behavior problems. Developing babies can be exposed to lead in the womb when their mothers are exposed to lead.
Lead also gets stored in our bones and teeth. Pregnant women who had been exposed to high levels of lead in the past could expose their babies during pregnancy even after their exposure has ended.
Children’s risk usually is greatest in their earliest years, because their brains are still developing. They are also at that explorative age when their curiosity may lead them to putting paint chips in their mouths.
They also may ingest dust from lead paint that gets on their hands. Activities like opening a window or door coated with lead paint can create enough lead dust to harm a child.
Detecting and Removing Lead-Based Paint
- If your home was built before 1978, have your home tested for lead. The National Lead Information Center (NLIC) provide a list of EPA-certified labs near you. You may sendthe labs paint chips from cracks for testing. The NLIC can provide a list of local specialists who can remove or seal the lead. Do-it-yourself tests, available at hardware stores, can detect high levels of lead, but may not clue you into low levels or lead paint that is under many layers of paint.
- If lead is found, but the paint is still intact (not chipping or peeling), then your family is safe from lead poisoning. However, if the lead paint is falling apart or was used on door jambs or window frames, where constant movement and friction cause a dust to escape, you will need to take action.
- If you plan to paint or renovate areas where there is lead paint, you must have the lead paint removed by a lead abatement specialist before starting. If you sand or tear down walls that have lead paint in them, a fine lead-laden dust will disperse throughout your house! Everyone who lives in the house will be exposed to significant risk.
- A lead abatement specialist (see below) must clean up all lead paint. Do not attempt this yourself! The U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) offices or the American Industrial Hygiene Association can help you locate certified lead removal contractors in your area.
- As a temporary measure, until lead paint is removed, damp mop frequently to clean up lead-laden dust. Wash children's toys and stuffed animals frequently.
- If possible, your family should move out while lead-based paint is being removed by a lead abatement professional.
Title X Housing Protection ensures that all homebuyers and tenants have the right to be informed of the presence of lead paint in a pre-1987 home that they intend to buy or rent. Contact the EPA or the NLIC for more information.
For more information on detecting and removing lead paint, see the Tools for Detecting Hazards: Lead page, by the Community Environmental Health Resource Center (CEHRC).
