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Lead-Based Paint

Environmental Health Center

Lead

What Is It?

Lead is a highly toxic metal that produces a range of adverse health effects particularly in young children.

Where Is It Found?

There are many ways in which humans are exposed to lead: through deteriorating paint and dust, air, drinking water, food, and contaminated soil. Airborne lead enters the body when you breathe or swallow lead particles or dust once it has settled. Lead can leach into drinking water from certain types of plumbing materials (lead pipes, copper pipes with lead solder, and brass faucets) and can also be found on walls, woodwork, and the outside of your home in the form of lead-based paint. Lead can be deposited on floors, windowsills, eating and playing surfaces, or in the dirt outside the home.

About two-thirds of the homes built before 1940, and one-half of the homes built from 1940 to 1960 contain lead-based paint. Some homes built after 1960 but before 1978 may also contain lead paint. Most paint made after 1978 contains no intentionally added lead, since it was banned from use on the interior and exterior of homes.

Even though leaded gasoline is seldom used today, high levels of lead found in soil can be attributed to past emissions.

Children can swallow harmful amounts of lead if they play in the dirt or in dusty areas (even indoors) and then put their fingers, clothes, or toys in their mouths, or if they eat without first washing their hands.

What Are the Health Effects?

Exposure to excessive levels of lead can cause brain damage; affect a child’s growth; damage kidneys; impair hearing; cause vomiting, headaches, and appetite loss; and cause learning and behavioral problems. In adults, lead can increase blood pressure and can cause digestive problems, kidney damage, nerve disorders, sleep problems, muscle and joint pain, and mood changes.

Fetuses, infants, and children are more vulnerable to lead exposure than adults since lead is more easily absorbed into growing bodies. Also, the tissues of small children are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead.

Exposure to lead is estimated by measuring levels in the blood (micrograms per deciliter). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has set a level of concern at 10 micrograms per deciliter. The CDC recommends testing children at their one-year checkup or at six months if the child is at risk of high-dose exposure.

How Can I Test to Determine If My Home Contains Lead-Based Paint?

The most accurate way to determine if your home has lead-based paint is to hire a lead inspector to test the paint. Lead inspectors use XRF (x-ray) instruments to determine content of lead in paint immediately. Another way is to hire a risk assessor who will take samples from several locations in your home and have them analyzed at a lab for lead content. If an individual is concerned about a specific area in a home and wants to take a simple paint chip, dust, or soil sample themselves, they can mail the sample directly to a certified laboratory and have it analyzed. Taking a sample without an assessor is easy and may be less expensive, but it only tests the area from which the paint, soil, or dust sample was taken. A house may contain several layers of paint from different periods so one or two samples may not be representative of the entire residence.

The Environmental Protection Agency has not approved and does not recommend do-it-yourself lead test kits. These kits, which do not require lab analyzation, are not very accurate in determining the existence of lead paint. For more information, or to locate lead-based paint inspectors, risk assessors and certified laboratories call (800) 424-5323.

How Can I Reduce Lead Exposure?

	If your home has lead paint, do not try to remove the lead from your home yourself. Improper removal often makes the situation worse. Hire a qualified contractor to do the work. In some states, landlords may be required by law to remove lead-based paint from homes where children have been poisoned. Check with local health officials. To locate trained lead service providers, including lead-based paint inspectors, risk assessors and abatement (lead removal) contractors in your area, call (888) LEAD-LIST or visit http://www.leadlisting.org/.
	Since lead can come from the solder or plumbing fixtures in your home, water from each faucet should be tested. Call the EPA Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800) 426-4791) for information on laboratories certified to test for lead.
	Mop floors and wipe window ledges and other areas with soapy water. If available, tri-sodium phosphate or lead-specific cleaning products can be used.
	Keep the areas where children like to play as clean and dust free as possible.
	Keep children away from areas where paint is chipped or peeling. Stop children from chewing on windowsills or other painted surfaces.
	Make sure everyone washes their hands before meals, naptime, and bedtime.
	If your child’s bottle or pacifier falls on the floor, wash it before giving it back to your child.
	Wash toys, stuffed animals, and bedding regularly.
	Send children and pets to a relative’s or neighbor’s house if you plan to renovate your house. Infants, children, and pregnant women should not be in the home while renovations are under way. Exposure to lead dust is hazardous.
	If you are pregnant, take as much care to avoid exposing yourself to lead as you would for your child. Lead can pass through your body to your unborn baby and cause health problems.
	Do not let your children eat sand, dirt, or paint chips. Encourage your children to play in grassy areas of the yard or playground. Plant grass in areas where children play if possible. Make sure children remove and wipe their shoes and wash their hands whenever they come inside after playing outdoors.
	Try to make sure your children eat a balanced diet with plenty of foods that contain iron and calcium. A child who gets enough of these minerals will absorb less lead. Foods rich in iron include eggs; lean red meat; and beans, peas, and other legumes. Dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt are also recommended for their high calcium content.
	Do not store food or drink in containers made from crystal, because some crystal contains lead.

What Is the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act?

The Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, known as Title X, requires that most home buyers and renters will receive known information on lead-based paint hazards during sales and rentals of housing built before 1978. Sellers and landlords are required to provide a lead-based paint disclosure form and a federal pamphlet, titled Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home, to the buyer or renter before the sale or lease of certain property. Landlords are also required to disclose information regarding lead-based paint to pre-existing tenants if the property was built prior to 1978. Congress passed Title X to protect families from exposure to lead by requiring disclosure of lead-based paint hazards in residential property. Title X became effective for all residential property built before 1978 on December 6, 1996.

For More Information

Contact the National lead Information Center at (800) 424-5323 or http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/nlic.htm.