EPA’s new lead dust standards reduces toxic exposure for children

“There is no safe lead exposure level,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi told reporters. “Even small exposures to this toxin can pose a long-term risk to the development of our children.”

Since 1978, lead paint has been banned for residential use, but the agency estimated that 31 million pre-1978 houses still contain lead-based paint. When the paint crumbles, it becomes contaminated dust. The agency said lead exposure is extremely harmful to children, leading to behavioral problems, lower IQ, slowed growth, and more.

If a child living in a home or at a childcare facility has a high blood lead level, property owners must test and clean up the lead. However, the final standards, compared to last year’s proposed rule, have less stringent dust-lead clearance levels, which determine when cleaning work can be considered complete for floors, window sills, and window troughs. 

The proposed rule’s dust-lead clearance levels for floors, window sills, and window troughs were 3, 20, and 25 micrograms per square foot. But, the final rule changed those standards to 5, 40, and 100 micrograms per square foot. The EPA said the standards reflect current regulations set by New York City. 

EPA Assistant Administrator of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Michal Freedhoff told reporters there are a small number of labs that had the technology to measure the lower levels the agency originally proposed and that officials were concerned about logjams at the labs, leaving people out of their homes longer.

“We actually felt we would be able to reduce the risk for more children and more households by shifting to the level that New York City implemented,” Freedhoff said. The EPA said the rule is expected to reduce lead exposure for nearly 1.2 million people. 

Some critics of the rule, such as property owners and realtors, have said it would limit affordable housing because of the cost of cleaning up the properties to meet the standards. Freedhoff said the changes to the levels reduce the cost of compliance with the rule. 

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“The standards that we’re finalizing have already been implemented in New York City,” she said. “Second of all, the benefits outweigh the costs by about 30 to one. And finally, I think it’s really a false choice to say that kids have to choose between safe homes and having the homes at all, and I don’t think they have to have that choice made for them with this rule.”

The new lead dust standards shortly follow EPA’s final rule requiring all lead service lines to be replaced within the next 10 years. Water tainted by lead has been linked to illnesses, and the rule is meant to prevent a public health crisis.