EPA rule seeks to shield children from lead paint

Contractors renovating U.S. homes built before 1978 must take special precautions to avoid exposing children to lead paint under a regulation announced Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Many physicians and scientists have criticized the EPA’s long-awaited rule as inadequate to protect children who live in the estimated 38 million homes that contain old lead paint.

Every year, about 11 million renovations occur in U.S. homes built before 1978, when lead was banned from household paint. When walls and windowsills of those homes are sanded, demolished or drilled, lead dust can be unleashed.

The EPA’s rule, which will take effect in April 2010, covers all pre-1978 houses, apartments, child-care facilities and schools occupied by children under 6 or pregnant women.

Builders, painters, electricians and others will have to be trained and certified in lead abatement procedures. They will be prohibited from using sandblasters, torches or other power tools that stir up lead dust, and they must post warning signs, keep residents out of work areas and contain and clean up dust and debris.

Exposure to lead is especially dangerous to young children, because it can damage their developing brains, causing learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

“Our goal is to eliminate childhood lead poisoning as a major health concern by the year 2010,” said James Gulliford, the EPA’s assistant administrator for prevention, pesticides and toxic substances.

The rule comes 16 years after Congress ordered the EPA to protect children from lead paint during home renovations.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said Monday that she planned to introduce legislation to force the EPA to adopt a more stringent rule to address concerns of the agency’s scientific advisors.

After the EPA proposed its rule in 2006, many physicians and other experts, including an EPA scientific advisory panel and the American Academy of Pediatricians, said it didn’t go far enough. They said that contractors should be required to verify that no lead dust remained in the homes and that the requirements should apply to all pre-1978 homes, not just ones with children under 6.

“Requiring contractors to be certified and trained in dealing with lead paint is a step forward, but EPA failed to require reliable testing to ensure that children and pregnant women are safe after lead remediation is complete,” Boxer said.

The building industry has said the rule would drive up the cost of renovations and could force people to do the work themselves or use unsafe, unlicensed workers.

An EPA analysis estimated that the cost of home renovations would rise by $500 million per year but that the regulations would save as much as $5 billion a year in children’s health and education costs.

Because lead has already been removed in many low- income housing projects through a federal program, much of the remaining threat lies in suburban homes that are being remodeled. In Los Angeles County, about 80% of homes were built when paint contained lead.

marla.cone@latimes.com