Federal Regulation Will Require Renovators to Work Safely with Lead-Paint

Advocates Welcome Rule while Urging EPA to Fix Rule Flaws

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alliance for Healthy Homes and
the National Center for Healthy Housing praise the new EPA regulation as a
step in the right direction in saving children, workers and occupants from
exposure to unhealthy levels of lead during renovation, repair, and painting
activities in homes and child-occupied buildings built before 1978. At the
same time, they say the rule must be strengthened to adequately protect
children.
The rule requires contractors who work in older homes and child-occupied
facilities to take simple, low-cost precautions to avoid creating and
spreading lead dust, and to clean up any dust that is generated. The rule also
requires the firms or management companies that are disturbing lead paint to
be certified and to have at least one employee who has completed a one-day
lead-safe work practices training. Firms are responsible for providing "on-
the-job" training for all other employees. Power sanding, open flame burning,
and sandblasting of painted surfaces is prohibited by the rule.
Although recent attention has been focused on lead in toys, the vast
majority of children with lead poisoning are exposed to lead from the old
paint in their own home. Dust created by damaged paint is the primary route of
exposure for children. EPA estimates that as many as 8 million renovations
occur each year that could generate dangerous levels of lead dust -- which
even in miniscule amounts can harm children.
"Congress instructed the EPA to address the dangers of disturbing lead
paint during renovations in 1992. In the 16 years since we've been waiting for
this rule, at least 17 million children have been exposed to harmful levels of
lead unnecessarily, permanently losing IQ points as a result. The new
regulation is an important first step towards preventing another generation
from being poisoned by debris left behind after a remodeling job," stated
Alliance for Healthy Homes Executive Director, Patrick MacRoy.
While a positive step, EPA's final rule ignores many scientific and
practical concerns raised by leading experts and advocates. Significant flaws
in the rule would expose children and pregnant women, as well as renovation
workers and painters to dangerous levels of lead, provide tenants and property
owners false assurances that lead dust has been safely removed and make
enforcement of the rule unlikely.
The rule has no credible method for ensuring that lead dust generated in
the course of the repair or renovation is adequately cleaned up and removed.
Instead of requiring testing for lead dust through a proven method called
"clearance testing" following renovation work, the rule requires contractors
to run a cloth over the area a certain number of times, hoping to show it does
not pick up visible dust. Since a small amount of invisible lead dust can
poison a child, the effects of omitting clearance could be devastating.
"Over the last two decades, the federal government and private industry
have invested millions of dollars validating the existing quantitative
clearance test, which assures families that their homes are safe following
renovation," stated National Center for Healthy Housing Executive Director,
Rebecca Morley. "To replace the reliable quantitative test with the rule's
qualitative test is very disappointing."
The traditional quantitative clearance test, along with work practice
standards that minimize the generation of dust, has been a cornerstone of
rehabilitation work conducted in federally assisted housing since 2000. With
this rule, the EPA has adopted an unproven method that is less protective than
the methods required by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for
low-income housing.
Advocates and scientists encourage EPA to address additional shortcomings
in the rule by: -- Banning the use of "dry scraping," which generates
substantial amounts
of hard-to-clean lead dust and increases lead exposure;
-- Requiring formal lead-safe work practices training of all workers, not
just their supervisors; and
-- Strengthening its approach to rule enforcement and providing
substantial incentives for states to adopt and enforce the rule.

The rule applies to most residential property constructed before 1978; the
year lead-based paint was banned in the United States. Certain child-occupied
facilities, including day cares, pre-schools and kindergarten classrooms, will
also be subject to the rule. The rule's requirements, however, are waived if
there is proof that there is no lead in the paint where the work is to be
performed. The annual direct cost of the rule for small firms represents less
than 1 percent of revenues.
Lead, a heavy metal once widely used in paints, gasoline, and other
products, is known to be toxic in very small quantities. Although lead is bad
for everyone, resulting in anemia, kidney damage and reproductive problems in
adults, lead's impact on children is especially serious. A potent neurotoxin,
lead damages children's developing brains, causing reduced intelligence and
possible learning and behavioral problems.
Contacts:
Patrick MacRoy
Alliance for Healthy Homes
202-347-7610 X14

Phillip Dodge
National Center for Healthy Housing
443-539-4168

SOURCE National Center for Healthy Housing

Patrick MacRoy of the Alliance for Healthy Homes, +1-202-347-7610, ext. 14; or
Phillip Dodge of the National Center for Healthy Housing, +1-443-539-4168