Terry R. Hunt

Lead-based paint

Lead is a metal with unique properties for which hundreds of uses have been found over thousands of years. Lead's highly toxic nature has also been recognized for almost as long; however, despite knowledge of the dangers of exposure to lead, use of lead in domestic and industrial applications continued to grow into the latter part of the 20th century, when the United States government concluded that exposure to significant quantities of lead from gasoline additives and lead-based paint constituted a considerable risk to public health.

Lead-based paint was completely banned in 1978, but in older homes the dust and paint chips that result from paint deterioration continue to pose a health hazard. Although lead-based paint in good condition does not generally constitute a hazard, children are known to eat the somewhat sweet-tasting lead paint chips. In addition, the dust from lead-based paint can be breathed in or ingested. In 1992, Congress found that some three million children under the age of six suffered from lead poisoning from lead-paint chips and lead-contaminated dust and that minority and low-income children were disproportionately affected. It further found that lead poisoning in children caused deficiencies in intelligence quotients, learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, and hyperactivity and other behavioral problems. Congress noted that the vast majority of homes built before 1950 contained significant amounts of lead-based paint. Accordingly, the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (PHRA) was passed with the goal of eliminating lead-based paint hazards in housing. The PHRA works together with the Lead-Based Paint Exposure Reduction Act, which is part of the Toxic Substances Control Act, to provide a comprehensive federal strategy for reducing the health risks posed by lead-based paint.

The EPA classifies as health hazards 40 micrograms of lead in dust per square foot on a floor, 250 micrograms per square foot on window sills, 400 parts lead per million in soil found in children's play areas, and 1200 parts per million in other parts of a residential yard. The EPA's Lead Awareness Program, designed to inform the public of the health risks of lead exposure, provides outreach activities, educational materials, and awards grants for educational and informational activities. The National Lead Information Center, a hot-line for homeowners, landlords, tenants, and contractors, provides guidance in how to deal with lead-based paint that contains hazardous amounts of lead. The EPA provides information on how to have lead levels in homes tested and the best way to go about having homes with high lead levels fixed. In addition, the EPA has developed training and certification programs for contractors who conduct lead-based paint inspection, testing, risk assessment, and abatement.

Because home renovations in older homes can disturb lead-based paint and create hazards that did not previously exist in those homes, the EPA requires renovators to provide information to homeowners and home occupants concerning those potential hazards before beginning any renovation work. In addition, federal law requires that a homeowner selling his or her home who knows of lead-based paint hazards in the home disclose that fact to any potential buyers of the home.

Despite the existence of comprehensive federal legislation regulating lead-based paint inspection, assessment, and abatement, states are not preempted from providing their own regulations concerning lead-based paint. The only requirement is that state standards and regulations must be at least as stringent as the federal standards. States are free to institute standards that are even more stringent than federal standards.