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The Biden administration said Thursday that it was strengthening requirements for homes and child-care facilities to remove lead-based paint dust, a move that could better protect more than 300,000 children a year from the toxic metal.
Under the new rules, any detectable level of lead dust in the building would be considered a “lead hazard,” and property owners would be required to pay for cleanup. Property and business owners who could be affected expressed concern about potential cleanup costs.
Lead is a potent neurotoxin, and exposure can damage the brain and nervous system, particularly in babies and children. Manufacturers once commonly added lead to paint to make it more durable, resistant to moisture and faster-drying.
The federal government banned lead-based paint for residential use in 1978. Still, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 31 million dwellings built before that year still contain lead-based paint, 3.8 million of which are home to one or more children under the age of 6.
“The science is clear: There is no safe level of lead,” said Michal I. Freedhoff, the assistant administrator for the E.P.A.’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution.
“Lead exposure can rob children of their futures, changing the course of a life full of promise into one of permanent challenges and diminished potential.”
The new rule applies to facilities regularly used by children 6 years old or younger, including child-care centers, preschools and kindergarten classrooms. The E.P.A. says many of the buildings subject to the new rule are older structures located in low-income neighborhoods.
It does not require property owners or child-care facilities to proactively test for lead dust. But if a child showed symptoms of lead exposure, through a blood test or other measure, the rule would trigger state and local requirements for testing.
At that point, if lead were detected, property owners would be required to pay for cleanup. That includes the lead that can remain in a building even after lead paint is removed, such as in the wake of a renovation.
Previous standards allowed for lead to remain in homes up to 10 micrograms per square foot for floors, and 100 micrograms per square foot for windowsills. The new rule would also require homeowners to disclose any lead-test results to potential buyers.
E.P.A. officials said they expected the rule to dramatically increase the number of facilities that could be required to remediate lead paint. The stronger standards will reduce lead exposures of nearly 1.2 million people every year, of whom up to 326,000 are children under 6, the officials said.
Children can be exposed to dangerous levels of lead by putting contaminated objects into their mouths, for example, or by eating bits of peeling or flaking lead-based paint. Research shows that living in older homes with lead-based paint is a leading cause of elevated blood lead levels in children.
Another is by drinking water from lead pipes. This month the Biden administration, which has made tackling lead exposure among children a priority, ordered water utilities to replace virtually every lead pipe in the country within 10 years.
Environmental groups, which had sued the E.P.A. for not establishing stronger lead protections, cheered the rules. “This long-overdue action is a game changer in the fight against lead exposure, a silent threat that endangers lives at even the smallest trace,” said Patrice Simms, an attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit that led the legal action.
Some industry organizations raised the alarm over potential costs.
The National Apartment Association, which represents the rental housing industry, said it “shares the administration’s commitment to reducing childhood lead poisoning across the country.” Still, the new rule “places the sole onus on the nation’s housing providers to remediate dust levels to absolute zero — an impossible task,” Nicole Upano, NAA’s assistant vice president of housing policy and regulatory affairs, said.
The National Child Care Association, which represents licensed early-child-care providers, said that the rules would add to rising costs, helping to make child care less affordable and available. Without financial assistance for affected providers, more stringent standards could, in particular, prompt closures of older child-care centers in rural areas, the association said.
“These necessary upgrades come at a cost,” Cindy Lehnhoff, the group’s director, said.
Peggy Shepard, co-founder and executive director of the New York-based advocacy group WE ACT for Environmental Justice, disagreed. “When we talk about cost, we need to think about the human cost,” she said. “What is the amount of money that you place on life?”
Symptoms of lead poisoning include headaches, stomachaches, nausea and tiredness. In children, lead poisoning can cause behavioral problems, slow down learning and irreversibly damage the brain. In adults, exposure can cause increased blood pressure and heart disease and may cause cancer.
Experts recommend that families in homes built before 1978 get their children’s blood lead levels tested at ages 1 and 2, have their homes tested for lead by a professional and take other preventative steps.
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