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Lead Based Paint & Lead Exposure
Anyone who has written a contract to purchase or sell a home or to lease a home can attest to the number of documents and disclosures that pertain to lead-based paint and protecting your family from lead in the home. Lead is toxic. Paint chips or dust from paint or lead slatted blinds can be inhaled or ingested and is particularly a problem when there are children in the home. Homes built in 1978 or after do not pose a lead paint hazard because after that year lead was taken out of all household paints. Most homes built before 1960 contain heavily leaded paint. Some homes built as recently as 1978 may also contain lead paint. This paint could be on window frames, walls, the outside of homes, or other surfaces. Do not burn painted wood since it may contain lead. Sometimes older homes have many layers of paint and no one can say for sure if any of these paint layers contains lead. If your home was built before 1978, it may be a good idea to have the paint tested for lead, particularly if you have children in the home. Anyone who is purchasing a home before 1978 can have the lead test done prior to buying the home. Here's how to test for lead. Visit www.epa.gov to find certified lead inspectors or risk assessors in your area. Another option is to hire an x-ray fluorescence technician to measure the lead levels of a surface using radiation (XRF). This does not work with all surfaces and should be combined with sending paint samples to a lab. XRF screening costs around $500 and lab samples are around $85 each. Home lead test kits are not recommended by the Comsumer Product Safety Commission because they are unreliable -- more than half tested did not detect lead when it was present. Other potential sources for lead are lead pipes, lead solder on pipe joints and brass fixtures. If you discover lead based paint in your home, do not attempt to remove it yourself. For additional information dealing with lead-based paint abatement contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the following two documents: Comprehensive and Workable Plan for the Abatement of Lead-Based Paint in Privately Owned Housing: Report to Congress (December 7, 1990) and Lead-Based Paint: Interim Guidelines for Hazard Identification and Abatement in Public and Indian Housing (September 1990). If you suspect that you or anyone in your home is experiencing symptoms of lead poisoning, or if you suspect lead exposure, see a medical professional as soon as possible. A simple blood test may save your life.
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Contributor's Note
For more information:
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/lead.html
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/ChildhoodLead/
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Thank you for a practical guide that will no doubt help many people do their part to clean up the environment. It's just incredible how previous generations were putting these toxic heavy metals in the environment - paint, gasoline, and heaven knows what else - with carefree abandon. It makes you wonder what companies are using now that future generations might have to deal with the same way we have to deal with lead, asbestos, DDT, etc.
 | | nick Sep 23, 2008 18:41 | |
Thank You for writing this. I know a crew of retired sub-contractors that should be reminded to be mindful of working projects without thinking to check for lead paint.
This is an important reminder of the hazards in the average home.
The copyright for this content entitled "Lead Based Paint & Lead Exposure" has been specified by the contributor as:
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