The reality is this: Dealing with lead paint hazards is a matter of keeping lead dust from being created. Intact lead paint — truly intact, not peeling, chalking, getting wet from a roof leak, in danger of being chewed or on a friction surface like stairs or a window sash — is not an active hazard. "If you keep it dry and it doesn't peel or have renovations done, it's basically safe," says Robert Zdenek, director of the Alliance for Healthy Homes. You don't need to "bring in guys in moon suits" for every hazard, agrees Matt Ammon, deputy director of the office of healthy homes and lead hazard control at HUD.
With the proper lead-safe work practices, wet scraping, non-toxic chemical strippers designed to deal with lead, encapsulating paints, and some techniques like window-trough liners and rubber stair treads, a house can be made safe in the short-term without destroying its historic character or costing as much as the house did. It's not a walk in the park, but neither is it Superfund-level work.
HUD offers a publication for small contractors, landlords, and home DIYers on this subject, and the National Park Service has a guide to lead-removal in historic housing.
"Just follow a couple simple cleaning and diet tips and your kids'll be fine. It's not rocket science." Verdict: not scary enough, and condescending to boot.
The flip side of the idea that you must take any house with lead down to the studs is the idea that a little tweaking of your cleaning routine and making sure your kids get enough iron and calcium will solve the problem. Cheerful washcloths and spray bottles imprinted with slogans like "Get Ahead of Lead" reinforce this idea.
"There's some small truth to this," says Ralph Scott, community projects director of AHH. "You can temporarily reduce lead dust levels through cleaning. You can reduce absorption." But, he says, if the hazards themselves aren't then addressed, it's "almost impossible" to keep lead dust down over the
DO seek out other parents in the same boat if your child has an elevated BLL, through groups like ALPHA. They often know more than doctors and inspectors and regulators put together. Join with them to fight for proactive prevention policies that hold landlords and contractors accountable.
DON'T rely on cleaning alone for long-term safety and don't let your landlord or doctor or social worker or anyone else make you feel like you should be able to.
DO be aware of less common sources of lead. Check your pottery (it doesn't have to be old or imported), old furniture, soil and water. Sign up for consumer products recall notices from Consumer Product Saftey Commission.
DON'T disturb intact paint without testing, learning lead-safe work practices and removing kids from the house. While kids are more often poisoned in substandard rental housing, poisonings from unsafe renovation projects are among the most severe cases.
long term with cleaning. "These are the easy bits of advice public health agencies can give people when they're not in a position to give them anything more." In other words, it's easier to "educate" parents than to require landlords to fix their dangerous properties.
Of course this gets twisted into the idea that any lead poisoning that does happen is the fault of parents who don't clean enough. People think that if your kid has an elevated BLL, "either they were eating paint chips or you're a terrible housekeeper," says Leann Howell, founder of American Lead Poisoning Help Association, a parents' organization. Given that lead dust is invisible and not removed by regular cleaning, she says, this is absurd.
Lead-safe cleaning tactics are important: as interim measures while hazard reduction is in process and particularly to get dust caused by previous hazards or the abatement itself out of a house. Lead dust can persist for years if not removed properly. The overriding rule is clean wet; for one description of the full routine, check out New Mexico's "How to Clean a Lead-Contaminated House."
"All old buildings are drenched in lead and are basically a lost cause." Verdict: too scary.
When I bought my house I actually tried to schedule a lead inspection and was told it was a waste of time. "Your house is 100 years old. It's got lead." That contractor is very lucky I don't now remember his name, though he's not alone in his attitude. Days after my daughter's BLL results, I invited someone from our local Healthy Neighborhoods Program to come by. Aside from a mop and bucket from Wal-Mart, her primary offerings were to say that "the county wants me to tell you it's probably your windows" and to urge me to deal with the only visibly peeling paint we had inside: on the water pipes and radiator in our bathroom.
