HUDdlers, it’s time for the weekly online resources round-up. This week is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week and the resources we have rounded up will help keep your families and your homes lead-free! This year’s National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week theme, “Lead-Free Kids for a Healthy Future,” highlights the importance of educating parents and children about lead, especially lead-based paint hazards in your home.
First let’s start off by saying that lead poisoning is a 100% preventable disease. With that wonderful fact in mind, let’s discuss how parents can create a safe lead-free environment for their children by limiting their children’s exposure to lead:
1. Get your home tested: Most homes built before 1978 contain some lead-based paint. Lead-based paint is more common and was used more extensively in homes built before 1950.
2. Get your child tested: Even if your young children seem healthy, ask your doctor to have your child’s blood lead level tested at age 1 and 2. Children from 3 to 6 years of age should have their blood tested, if they have not been tested before and:
- They live in or regularly visit a house built before 1950,
- They live in or regularly visit a house built before 1978 with on-going or recent renovations or remodeling
- They have a sibling or playmate who has or did have lead poisoning
3. Get the facts: Lead is a highly toxic metal that may cause a range of health problems, especially in young children. When lead is absorbed into the body, it can cause damage to the brain and other vital organs, like the kidneys, nerves and blood. HUD along with the CDC and EPA has a shared goal of raising awareness about lead poisoning prevention, to find additional information, please visit the following websites:
HUD is working to create lead-safe affordable housing through outreach and public education, a lead hazard control grant program, worker training, and the enforcement of regulations
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