What You Should Know About Lead Based Paint in Your Home: Safety
Alert
Consumer Product Safety Commission
What You Should Know About Lead Based Paint in Your Home: Safety Alert
CPSC Document #5054
Lead-based paint is hazardous to your health.
Lead-based paint is a major source of lead poisoning for children
and can also affect adults. In children, lead poisoning can cause
irreversible brain damage and can impair mental functioning. It
can retard mental and physical development and reduce attention
span. It can also retard fetal development even at extremely low
levels of lead. In adults, it can cause irritability, poor muscle
coordination, and nerve damage to the sense organs and nerves
controlling the body. Lead poisoning may also cause problems with
reproduction (such as a decreased sperm count). It may also
increase blood pressure. Thus, young children, fetuses, infants,
and adults with high blood pressure are the most vulnerable to
the effects of lead.
Children should be screened for lead poisoning.
In communities where the houses are old and deteriorating, take
advantage of available screening programs offered by local health
departments and have children checked regularly to see if they
are suffering from lead poisoning. Because the early symptoms of
lead poisoning are easy to confuse with other illnesses, it is
difficult to diagnose lead poisoning without medical testing.
Early symptoms may include persistent tiredness, irritability,
loss of appetite, stomach discomfort, reduced attention span,
insomnia, and constipation. Failure to treat children in the
early stages can cause long-term or permanent health damage.
The current blood lead level which defines lead poisoning is 10
micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. However, since
poisoning may occur at lower levels than previously thought,
various federal agencies are considering whether this level
should be lowered further so that lead poisoning prevention
programs will have the latest information on testing children for
lead poisoning.
Consumers can be exposed to lead from paint.
Eating paint chips is one way young children are exposed to lead.
It is not the most common way that consumers, in general, are
exposed to lead. Ingesting and inhaling lead dust that is created
as lead-based paint "chalks," chips, or peels from deteriorated
surfaces can expose consumers to lead. Walking on small paint
chips found on the floor, or opening and closing a painted frame
window, can also create lead dust. Other sources of lead include
deposits that may be present in homes after years of use of
leaded gasoline and from industrial sources like smelting.
Consumers can also generate lead dust by sanding lead-based paint
or by scraping or heating lead-based paint.
Lead dust can settle on floors, walls, and furniture. Under these
conditions, children can ingest lead dust from hand-to-mouth con-
tact or in food. Settled lead dust can re-enter the air through
cleaning, such as sweeping or vacuuming, or by movement of people
throughout the house.
Older homes may contain lead based paint.
Lead was used as a pigment and drying agent in "alkyd" oil based
paint. "Latex" water based paints generally have not contained
lead. About two-thirds of the homes built before 1940 and
one-half of the homes built from 1940 to 1960 contain
heavily-leaded paint. Some homes built after 1960 also contain
heavily-leaded paint. It may be on any interior or exterior
surface, particularly on woodwork, doors, and windows. In 1978,
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission lowered the legal
maximum lead content in most kinds of paint to 0.06% (a trace
amount). Consider having the paint in homes constructed before
the 1980s tested for lead before renovating or if the paint or
underlying surface is deteriorating. This is particularly
important if infants, children, or pregnant women are present.
Consumers can have paint tested for lead.
There are do-it-yourself kits available. However, the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission has not evaluated any of these
kits. One home test kit uses sodium sulfide solution. This
procedure requires you to place a drop of sodium sulfide solution
on a paint chip. The paint chip slowly turns darker if lead is
present. There are problems with this test, however. Other metals
may cause false positive results, and resins in the paint may
prevent the sulfide from causing the paint chip to change color.
Thus, the presence of lead may not be correctly indicated. In
addition the darkening may be detected only on very light-colored
paint.
Another in-home test requires a trained professional who can
operate the equipment safely. This test uses X-ray fluorescence
to determine if the paint contains lead. Although the test can be
done in your home, it should be done only by professionals
trained by the equipment manufacturer or who have passed a state
or local government training course, since the equipment contains
radioactive materials. In addition, in some tests, the method has
not been reliable.
Consumers may choose to have a testing laboratory test a paint
sample for lead. Lab testing is considered more reliable than
other methods. Lab tests may cost from $20 to $50 per sample. To
have the lab test for lead paint, consumers may:
- Get sample containers from the lab or use re-sealable plastic
bags. Label the containers or bags with the consumer's name and
the location in the house from which each paint sample was taken.
Several samples should be taken from each affected room (see HUD
Guidelines discussed below).
- Use a sharp knife to cut through the edges of the sample paint.
The lab should tell you the size of the sample needed. It will
probably be about 2 inches by 2 inches.
- Lift off the paint with a clean putty knife and put it into the
container. Be sure to take a sample of all layers of paint, since
only the lower layers may contain lead. Do not include any of the
underlying wood, plaster, metal, and brick.
- Wipe the surface and any paint dust with a wet cloth or paper
towel and discard the cloth or towel.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
recommends that action to reduce exposure should be taken when
the lead in paint is greater than 0.5% by lab testing or greater
than 1.0 milligrams per square centimeter by X-ray fluorescence.
Action is especially important when paint is deteriorating or
when infants, children, or pregnant women are present.
Consumers can reduce exposure to lead-based paint.
If you have lead-based paint, you should take steps to reduce
your exposure to lead. You can:
1. Have the painted item replaced.
You can replace a door or other easily removed item if you can
do it without creating lead dust. Items that are difficult to
remove should be replaced by professionals who will control and
contain lead dust.
2. Cover the lead-based paint.
You can spray the surface with a sealant or cover it with
gypsum wallboard. However, painting over lead-based paint with
non-lead paint is not a long-term solution. Even though the
lead-based paint may be covered by non-lead paint, the lead-based
paint may continue to loosen from the surface below and create
lead dust. The new paint may also partially mix with the
lead-based paint, and lead dust will be released when the new
paint begins to deteriorate.
3. Have the lead-based paint removed.
Have professionals trained in removing lead-based paint do this
work. Each of the paint-removal methods (sandpaper, scrapers,
chemicals, sandblasters, and torches or heat guns) can produce
lead fumes or dust. Fumes or dust can become airborne and be
inhaled or ingested. Wet methods help reduce the amount of lead
dust. Removing moldings, trim, window sills, and other painted
surfaces for professional paint stripping outside the home may
also create dust. Be sure the professionals contain the lead
dust. Wet-wipe all surfaces to remove any dust or paint chips.
Wet-clean the area before re-entry.
You can remove a small amount of lead-based paint if you can
avoid creating any dust. Make sure the surface is less than about
one square foot (such as a window sill). Any job larger than
about one square foot should be done by professionals. Make sure
you can use a wet method (such as a liquid paint stripper).
4. Reduce lead dust exposure.
You can periodically wet mop and wipe surfaces and floors with
a high phosphorous (at least 5%) cleaning solution. Wear
waterproof gloves to prevent skin irritation. Avoid activities
that will disturb or damage lead based paint and create dust.
This is a preventive measure and is not an alternative to
replacement or removal.
Professionals are available to remove, replace, or cover
lead-based paint.
Contact your state and local health departments lead poisoning
prevention programs and housing authorities for information about
testing labs and contractors who can safely remove lead-based
paint.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
prepared guidelines for removing lead-based paint which were
published in the Federal Register, April 18, 1990, page
1455614614. Ask contractors about their qualifications,
experience removing lead-based paint, and plans to follow these
guidelines.
- Consumers should keep children and other occupants (especially
infants, pregnant women, and adults with high blood pressure) out
of the work area until the job is completed.
- Consumers should remove all food and eating utensils from the
work area.
- Contractors should remove all furniture, carpets, and drapes
and seal the work area from the rest of the house. The contractor
also should cover and seal the floor unless lead paint is to be
removed from the floor.
- Contractors should assure that workers wear respirators
designed to avoid inhaling lead.
- Contractors should not allow eating or drinking in the work
area. Contractors should cover and seal all cabinets and food
contact surfaces.
- Contractors should dispose of clothing worn in the room after
working. Workers should not wear work clothing in other areas of
the house. The contractor should launder work clothes separately.
- Contractors should clean up debris using special vacuum
cleaners with HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters and
should use a wet mop after vacuuming.
- Contractors should dispose of lead-based paint waste and
contaminated materials in accordance with state and local
regulations.
Government officials and health professionals continue to develop
advice about removing lead-based paint. Watch for future
publications by government agencies, health departments, and
other groups concerned with lead-paint removal and prevention of
lead poisoning.
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