U.S. Campaign Spotlights Dangers of Lead Paint
The federal government, hoping to raise awareness among parents and send a message to landlords about the dangers of lead-based paints, announced Thursday a nationwide crackdown on building owners who fail to notify tenants that their homes may contain the toxic paint.
Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner told parents at a community center that the government had fined four District of Columbia landlords $87,000 and ordered them to spend more than $1 million to remove lead paint in their apartment buildings and an additional $172,000 to teach children about lead poisoning.
As part of a comprehensive lead-abatement campaign, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating 40 other landlords or realty companies in 20 cities, including Los Angeles. HUD has settled lead cases against five other landlords.
The Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, passed by Congress in 1992, requires owners of buildings built before 1978 to notify tenants in their leases of any known or potential areas covered with lead paint and tell them about the health risks of lead poisoning.
But some lead-awareness groups said it is difficult to force landlords to tell tenants about lead paints and that even informed tenants often remain at risk. Linda Kite, director of the Healthy Homes Project, part of the Los Angeles nonprofit organization Strategic Action for a Just Economy, said many low-income tenants with lead paint in their homes cannot afford to move.
In Los Angeles last year, the owner of the 1,175-unit Wyvernwood Garden Apartments agreed to pay $1.2 million to remove lead-based paint from the units. Los Angeles health officials had found as much as 25 times the amount of state-permitted lead inside the East Los Angeles apartments. State attorneys brought the case under California’s Proposition 65, which requires businesses to inform customers of any toxic chemicals they use that may pose a health risk.
State health officials recently estimated that more than 130,000 California children ages 1 to 5 have elevated levels of lead in their blood, mainly from exposure to paints.
