The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced a new proposed rule for lead pain in a bid to prevent children from being exposed to the toxic substance.
In a news release issued by the federal agency, officials predict that the rule will reduce lead exposures for 250,000 to 500,000 children under the age of 6 each year. The mandate would enhance the EPA’s regulations under section 402 of the Toxic Substances Control Act which would revise the standards for how much lead dust can be on floors, window sills, and other locations in older buildings.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is taking a whole-of-government approach to ensuring that the most vulnerable among us—our children—are protected from exposure to lead,” EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said in a news release. “This proposal to safely remove lead paint along with our other efforts to deliver clean drinking water and replace lead pipes will go a long way toward protecting the health of our next generation of leaders.”
The rule, according to the EPA, would reduce the “dust-lead hazard standards” from 10 micrograms per square foot to 3 micrograms per square foot for floors and 100 micrograms per square foot to 20 micrograms per square foot for window sills “to any reportable level greater than zero in recognition of the fact that there is no level of lead in dust that has been found to be safe for children.” For window troughs, the lead dust levels would be lowered from 400 micrograms to 25 micrograms per square foot under the rule.
The federal government banned lead-based paints in 1978, but it is estimated that 31 million pre-1978 homes still have it. And 3.8 million of those homes, the EPA said, have a child under the age of 6 living there.
“Lead exposure can pose a significant health and safety threat to children and can cause irreversible and life-long health effects, including behavioral problems, lower IQ, slowed growth and more,” according to the EPA release, adding that “young children are particularly at risk of higher exposure to ingesting lead-containing dust.”
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (pdf) released in 2019 estimated that about 15 million American students were enrolled in school districts that included buildings that still had lead-based paint.
“There is no safe level of lead,” says the American Association of Pediatrics on its website. It noted that at age 2, the risk for lead exposure often peaks and that lead can interfere with critical central nervous system development including the “brain’s volumes and alterations on its microstructure.”
It also said that lead can interfere with the body’s capacity to absorb iron and vitamin D and can harm the kidneys, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There have also been studies linking lead exposure to a variety of cardiovascular disorders, it notes.
The Trump administration also mandated more stringent lead dust rules in 2020, also arguing the rule would protect children from harmful exposure to the toxic metal. At the time, some environmentalist groups criticized the Trump administration by saying the rule didn’t go far enough.
However, Wednesday’s proposed EPA limits could force millions of homeowners or child care facilities to inspect for lead dust and pay for cleaning, said EPA official Michal Freedhoff, the assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “It dramatically increases the number of facilities that could be required to inspect and remediate lead paint hazards,” Ms. Freedhoff told the New York Times about the proposed rule change.
An estimate published by the Washington Post said that possibly millions of U.S. homes, schools, and businesses may have to essentially eliminate lead dust under the EPA plan. Home improvement website Angi estimates that lead removal services can cost between $8 and $17 per square foot, with a total range of $1,445 to $5,412 depending on the house, square footage, and other factors.
“A lead paint removal job runs around $3,400, but you could pay as little as $100 or as much as $20,000, depending on the extent of the work,” said an article posted to the website. “If you discover lead paint in your home, there are a few methods you can opt for to rid your home of the nasty substance, but we recommend hiring a lead paint removal pro to ensure the job is done correctly.”
It, however, noted that some homeowners might have to demolish the entire surface containing the lead-based paint, costing an additional $1,000 to $15,000.
The EPA’s latest proposal was triggered by a 2019 lawsuit that was filed by the Sierra Club and other environmental groups that alleged the EPA has long set too-high limits for lead-based paint in homes and buildings. In what was described as a win for the environmental groups, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in 2021 that EPA has to reconsider its lead-dust health standards and update its rules.
From The Epoch Times
