Why Should I Be Concerned About Lead Paint?

Federal standards define lead-based paint as any paint or surface coatings that contain lead equal to or in excess of 1.0 milligram per square centimeter or more than 0.5 percent by weight. Some states and localities regulate paint with lower concentrations of lead. You should check with your state and local health departments to see if they have requirements that are more stringent than the Federal requirements.

Paint with concentrations of lead lower than the definition above can still cause health problems. Even paint with a small amount of lead can account for a lot of lead in airborne or settled dust.

Why was lead added to paint?

  • Lead was added for color and durability.

  • Lead was also added to some other surface coatings, such as varnishes and stains. Lead-based paint was banned from residential use in 1978.

  • In 1978, the Consumer Products Safety Commission banned the sale of lead-based paint for residential use. In practice, this means that homes built in 1978 could still have used lead-based paint, because existing supplies of paint containing lead would still have been available.

  • This is why the year of construction is such an important consideration.

 

Health Risks of Lead

Children under six are most at risk from small amounts of lead. Children are at a greater risk than adults because their bodies are developing. During normal and frequent playing or hand-to-mouth activity, children may swallow or inhale dust from their hands, toys, food or other objects.

In children, lead can cause:

  • Nervous system and kidney damage.

  • Decreased intelligence, attention deficit disorder, and learning disabilities.

  • Speech, language, and behavior problems.

 
 

Among adults, pregnant women are especially at risk from exposure to lead. Lead is passed from the mother to the fetus and can cause:

  • Miscarriages

  • Premature births

  • Brain damage

  • Low birth weight

Health effects of lead in adults include:

  • High blood pressure.

  • Fertility problems in men and women.

  • Digestive problems.

  • Nerve disorders.

  • Memory and concentration problems.

  • Sexual disorders.

  • Muscle or joint pain.

Lead poisoning does not always have obvious symptoms. Specific symptoms that people with lead exposure sometimes complain of include:

  • Headache

  • Stomach ache

  • Irritability

  • Fatigue

  • Loss of appetite

  • Joint and/or muscle pain

Because many symptoms are non-specific or similar to flu symptoms, parents may not be alerted to get immediate medical attention for their children. This is critical for young children. The longer a young child stays untreated, the higher the risk of permanent brain damage.

Workers with an occupational exposure to lead need to inform their doctors in order to give them all the background needed for an adequate evaluation of symptoms as possibly related to lead exposure.

The best way to determine if lead is present in the body is by testing blood. The amount of lead in blood is measured in micrograms per deciliter ( g/dl) of the blood, a very small unit of measurement. A microgram is one millionth of a gram. That is like one penny out of $10,000, or one grain of sugar in a packet. A standard size paper clip weighs about one gram, or one million times more than a microgram.

Why are dust and debris a problem?

Dust and debris from renovation, repair, and painting jobs in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities may contain lead.

Pre-1978 paint may contain lead.

  • Renovation, repair and painting jobs disturb paint that may contain lead. Any activity involving surface preparation, such as hand-scraping, power sanding, the use of heat guns above 1100O Fahrenheit, and open flame burning, can generate lead dust. More complicated tasks such as removing building components and demolishing walls also can create a lot of dust. Small amounts of lead-contaminated dust can poison children and adults.

  • A tiny amount of lead can be extremely harmful. Leaded-dust particles are often so small that you cannot see them, yet you can breathe or swallow them. These smaller, inhaled or swallowed dust particles are more easily absorbed by the body than larger particles, and can therefore more easily cause poisoning.

  • Leaded dust may be breathed or swallowed by children, residents and workers. Through normal hand-to-mouth activities, children may swallow or inhale dust on their hands, toys, food, or other objects. Children may also ingest paint chips.

  • Adults can swallow or breathe dust during work activities. When workers perform activities such as scraping and sanding by hand, or use a power sander or grinding tool, dust is created. The dust goes into the air that they breathe. If workers eat, drink, smoke or put anything into their mouths without washing up first, they may swallow the leaded dust present.

A little dust goes a long way. You can’t see it. Even a floor that looks clean can have leaded dust on it. Only a laboratory test can tell you for sure if an area is contaminated with lead.

Normal cleaning methods will not pick up all the dust in a work area. Sweeping is not enough. You need to use water, detergent and a HEPA vacuum to clean up dust effectively.

Once dust is released, it is easily tracked around, inside and outside the work area. And, an exterior painting job can contaminate the inside of a home as the dust, chips and leaded soil are tracked inside.