Biden Admin Toughens Standards to Protect Children From Lead Paint

President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced new standards that place strict limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and child-care facilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shared details of the new rule in a press release while noting it is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. The rule sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in residences and child-care facilities made before 1978 to levels that are too low to be detected.

According to the EPA, exposure to lead, which is a neurotoxin, can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children, such as behavioral problems, lower IQ and slowed growth. Lead exposure can also cause adverse effects in adults like increased risk of cardiovascular disease and may cause cancer.

According to the EPA’s estimates, the new standards will reduce lead exposures of up to nearly 1.2 million people every year, including 178,000 to 326,000 children under the age of six.

“Too often our children, the most vulnerable residents of already overburdened communities, are the most profoundly impacted by the toxic legacy of lead-based paint,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in the agency’s press release. “EPA is getting the lead out of communities nationwide. These protections will reduce lead exposures for hundreds of thousands of people every year, helping kids grow up healthy and meet their full potential.”

The federal government banned the use of lead-based paint in residences in 1978, but it is estimated that 31 million houses built before the ban still contain lead-based paint. Of those houses, 3.8 million have one or more children under of the age of six living there.

The new standards will take effect in early 2025 and will bring the levels of lead dust allowed down to no detectable lead. Ten micrograms of lead dust per square foot is the current standard for a dangerous level on floors.

Lead dust forms when lead-based paint deteriorates or is disturbed by actions like remodeling, and the EPA said young children are especially susceptible to exposure to lead dust due to behaviors such as crawling and hand-to-mouth activities.

The new standard also lowers the amount of lead that can remain in dust on floors, window sills and window troughs after a lead paint abatement takes place. Under the new rule, levels would be 5 micrograms per square foot on the floor, down from 10 micrograms, and 40 micrograms for window sills, down from 100 micrograms. Abatement work can only be performed by certified individuals and firms, and testing is required after the work is completed.

The new lead dust rule follows a 10-year deadline Biden announced earlier this month for cities across the nation to replace lead pipes in an effort to ensure safe drinking water.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.