EPA Strengthens Standards for Exposure to Lead-Based Paint Dust to Protect Children

To mark National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week — October 20 to 26 — the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized stricter requirements for the identification and cleaning up of lead-based paint dust in homes and childcare facilities constructed before 1978.

The new standards are the most recent action in the Biden-Harris administration’s strategy to protect people from lead exposure. Children are known to be especially vulnerable to lead exposure impacts, which can lead to irreversible, life-long health issues that include lower IQ, behavioral problems and slowed growth, a press release from the EPA said. In adults, lead exposure can cause cancer, a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and other health problems.

The EPA estimated the rule would reduce lead exposure for as many as 1.2 million people annually, of which between 178,000 and 326,000 are children less than six years of age.

“Too often our children, the most vulnerable residents of already overburdened communities, are the most profoundly impacted by the toxic legacy of lead-based paint,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in the press release. “EPA is getting the lead out of communities nationwide. These protections will reduce lead exposures for hundreds of thousands of people every year, helping kids grow up healthy and meet their full potential.”

The new standards are part of the administration’s Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan, announced in 2021. The new rule also advances the EPA strategy of addressing significant disparities regarding lead exposure along ethnic, racial and socioeconomic lines.

“We can all breathe a little easier now that the EPA has significantly lowered its dust lead standard to protect children,” said Peggy Shepard, executive director and co-founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, in the press release. “For decades, the academic and advocacy communities have understood that there is no safe level of lead in a child’s blood. I am an environmental justice leader based in Harlem where studies show that Black children living below the poverty line are twice as likely to suffer from lead poisoning as poor white children.”

The EPA’s final rule lowers the dust lead level that is considered hazardous to “any reportable level measured by an EPA-recognized laboratory.” It also reduces the amount of lead permitted to remain as dust on window sills, window troughs and floors following a lead paint abatement to the lowest levels able to be quickly and reliably measured in laboratories.

Lead-based paint was banned by the federal government for use in residences in 1978, but approximately 31 million houses built before 1978 still contain lead-based paint. Of these, 3.8 million have one child or more under six living there.

“Lead-contaminated dust is one of the most common causes of elevated blood lead levels in children, and even low levels of exposure can be harmful. Lead dust commonly results when lead-based paint deteriorates or is disturbed,” EPA warned. “Communities of color and lower income communities are often at greater risk of lead exposure because deteriorated lead-based paint is more likely to be found in lower-income areas. Communities of color can also face greater risk of lead-based paint exposure due to the legacy of redlining, historic racial segregation in housing, and reduced access to environmentally safe and affordable housing.”

A public webinar hosted by the EPA on December 5 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time will give an overview of the new rule. Registration for the webinar is available here.