Many houses and apartments built before 1978 have paint that contains high levels of lead (called lead-based paint). Lead from paint, chips, and dust can pose serious health hazards if not taken care of properly.
Dangers of Exposure to Lead
Lead poisoning poses the most serious health threats for children. Your children can be poisoned if they get lead in their bodies.
Exposure to low levels of lead can permanently affect children.
- Nervous system and kidney damage.
- Learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, and decreased intelligence.
- Speech, language, and behavior problems.
- Poor muscle coordination.
- Decreased muscle and bone growth.
- Hearing damage.
High levels of lead can have devastating effects on children, including seizures, unconsciousness and, in some cases, death.
Exposure to high levels of lead can cause serious problems for adults as well.
- Increased chance of illness during pregnancy.
- Harm to fetus, including brain damage or death.
- Fertility problems in men and women.
- High blood pressure.
- Digestive problems.
- Nervous disorders.
- Memory and concentration problems.
- Muscle and joint pain.
Finding Lead Hazards in Your Home
Lead was used in paint, water pipes, gasoline, pottery, and other places. Even though this metal is not used as much anymore, it still remains in places that it was used.
- The paint on your walls and windowsills may have lead in it.
- Household dust (from old, worn paint) may have lead in it.
- Your drinking water may have lead in it from your water pipes or solder that joins pipes together.
- Even the soil outside your home may have lead in it.
It is very important to find out if your home has lead in or around it. There are tests that will let you know and they don’t cost very much.
Find Out if Your Home Has Lead
Finding out if lead is a problem in your home is the first step in protecting yourself from lead dangers.
- You may need to have your home or water tested. Your local or state health department can tell you how to do this for little or no cost. Many hardware stores also sell low-cost lead testing kits.
Seek professional help to eliminate lead in your home.
- Lead should be removed by trained and certified workers. You can find a certified lead paint removal company by contacting your local or state health department.
- Getting rid of lead in the wrong way can make the problem worse.
- Children and pregnant women need to stay away during a lead removal project.
Protect Your Family From Lead
- Was children’s hands and face often with soap and water, especially before they eat. Wash toys every week.
- Keep down lead-based paint dust with housekeeping. Wipe windowsills, floors, and other surfaces with paper towels, warm water and soap once a week. Rinse well.
- Never sweep, vacuum, or dry dust in a room that has lead dust. You will not remove the harmful dust and can stir it up. This includes porches which are often pained with lead paint.
- Don’t let children chew or put their mouths on windowsills. Keep cribs away from windowsills and walls.
- If any remodeling is being done, be sure you find out if work is happening on something that contains lead-based paint. Never dry scrape or dry sand lead paint. Don’t burn it. Children and pregnant women should stay away while work takes place. Test dust for lead around the remodeling area.
Prevent and Reduce The Risk of Lead in Your Home
- Never use hot water from the tap for drinking, cooking, or making formula. Hot water can take more lead out of lead pipes.
- When you haven’t used any water for a few hours or overnight, let the cold water run briefly before using it again. You will know it has run long enough when the water changes temperature. Usually it gets colder. This clears out any water sitting in the pipes that may have collected lead or other metals.
- Have your water tested for lead. Call your local or state health department to learn how.
- If someone in your home works with lead, they can bring it home on their clothes. Make sure they shower and change clothes and shoes before coming inside. Wash these clothes by themselves.
- Don’t let your children play in yards that may contain lead in the soil. Have the soil tested for lead to make sure it’s safe. Put in grass or other plants to help keep children away from the soil.
- Feed your children a health diet. Foods with vitamin C, calcium, and iron can help reduce lead poisoning. Children with lead poisoning often don’t get enough iron or other minerals in their diets. Making sure your children get enough of these nutrients can lower how much lead their bodies take in.
Remodeling and Renovating
- Lead-based pain is most often found around windows, in kitchens, and in bathrooms.
- Home projects done on lead-painted areas can create harmful dust.
- If you think your home has lead-based paint, hire a professional to test for lead before beginning work.
- If your home has lead-based paint, it is best to hire a trained contractor who knows how to work safely with lead to perform renovations.
Getting Started
- For blood tests, call your family doctor or public health clinic.
- For testing of paint samples and drinking water, call your local or state health department.
- To find a certified lead inspector or paint removal contractor, contact…
- For a packet of materials or questions about lead, call the National Lead Information Center, toll-free at 1-800-424-LEAD (1-800-424-5323).
- For information on lead in drinking water, call the EPA Safe Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791 or visit the website at www.epa.gov/safewater.
- Contact HUD about tenants’ rights and other housing issues at 1-800-HUDS-FHA (1-800-483-7342) or visit their website at www.hud.gov.