Lead-based paint in the United States
Encyclopedia
Lead-based paint in the United States
resulted in a court case against the Lead Industries Association.
Due in great part to studies carried out by Philip J. Landrigan
, paint containing more than 0.06% (by weight of dried product) lead was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(16 Code of Federal Regulations CFR 1303). The U.S. Government defines "lead-based paint" as any "paint, surface coating that contains lead equal to or exceeding one milligram per square centimeter (1.0 mg/cm2) or 0.5% by weight." Some states have adopted this or similar definitions of "lead-based paint." These definitions are used to enforce regulations that apply to certain activities conducted in housing constructed prior to 1978, such as abatement, or the permanent elimination of a "lead-based paint hazard."
The U.S. Government and many states have regulations regarding lead-based paint. Many of them apply to evaluating a property for lead-based paint. There are two different testing procedures that are similar but yield different information. Lead-based paint inspections will evaluate all painted surfaces in a complex to determine where lead-based paint, if any, is present. The procedures for lead inspections is outlined in the HUD Guidelines, Chapter 7, 1997 Revision. The other testing is a lead-based paint risk assessment. In this testing, only deteriorated painted surfaces are tested and dust wipe samples are collected. This information will help the risk assessor determine if there are any lead hazards. Many property owners decided to get a combination of both tests to determine where the lead-based paint is present and what hazards are present as well. Risk assessments are outlined in the HUD Guidelines, Chapter 5. In addition, if a child is poisoned in a property, the owner may be required to perform abatement (permanent elimination of the lead hazard).
In 1996, the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Regulation was enacted. It requires owners of pre-1978 "target housing" to disclose to potential buyers or renters all known information about the presence of lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards in the property. It requires that the potential buyer or tenant be given the lead information pamphlet, "Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home," or other United States Environmental Protection Agency-approved pamphlet as well as a specific disclosure statement. The option of whether to test for the presence of lead-based paint is left to the owner, so long as a decision not to test is disclosed.
EPA signed a new regulation (Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP))
regarding the renovation of child-occupied buildings built before 1978 on April 22, 2008. The rule (Federal Register: July 15, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 134)) became effective April 22, 2010. Under the rule, contractors
performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based coatings (including lead paint, shellac or varnish) in child-occupied facilities built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. EPA’s RRP rule impacts many construction trades, including general contractor
s and special trade contractors, painters, plumber
s, carpenters
, window installers, wood floor refinishers and electrician
s. Activities performed by all of these trades can disturb lead-based paint and have the potential to create hazardous lead dust. For most individuals, eight hours of training is required. However, individuals who have successfully completed renovation courses developed by HUD or EPA, or an abatement worker or supervisor course accredited by EPA or an authorized State or Tribal program, can become certified renovators by taking a four hour EPA-accredited renovator refresher training.
The RRP rule is controversial, primarily due to the increased cost remodelers incur as a result of having to set up dust containment apparatuses, including sealing off doorways and HVAC
ducts with plastic. Various national trade associations have been very vocal in their opposition, some going so far as to sue the EPA. Still, the EPA is deliberating expanding the rule to require contractors to pass a third-party dust wipe clearance exam to in order to complete remodel work in pre-1978 buildings.
Although the rule was not fully implemented until April 2010, certain elements were required before, and others required attention well before April 2010.
Before April 2009 – Contractors that disturb paint in homes, residential buildings, schools and child care facilities built prior to 1978 had to provide lead hazard information prior to the start of the job to building owners, occupants, and to the families of children using the facilities by distributing EPA’s new Renovate Right brochure.
As of April 2009 – Trainers could begin to apply to EPA or an EPA-approved state for accreditation, and, once approved, contractors and construction trade workers could begin to take the training to become certified.
Beginning October 2009 – Firms could apply for EPA or state certification.
Beginning April 2010 – All businesses engaged in renovation, repair or painting activities in homes, residential buildings, schools and child care facilities built prior to 1978 must be certified, use certified workers, and follow specific lead-safe work practices to prevent lead contamination.
filed a public nuisance
lawsuit
in 1999 State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association to get the former manufacturers of lead paint to pay for the clean up of current lead hazards in Rhode Island. After a trial that ended in a hung jury
in 2002, the state refiled the case. In February 2006, the jury decided in favor of the state and said that Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings would have to pay for the clean-up of lead paint in the state. On July 1, 2008, the Rhode Island Supreme Court in a landmark decision overturned the verdict, dismissing the case stating that "the State of Rhode Island 'cannot allege' facts sufficient to state a claim for common law public nuisance
against lead pigment manufacturers."
In 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court
also rejected the use of the public nuisance theory in lead paint lawsuits, leaving Ohio and California as the only two remaining public nuisance cases.
The California Supreme Court has reviewed the contingency fee agreement between the municipalities and private counsel. A briefing schedule is currently being set.
But in recent rulings the Supreme Court held the contingent fee
agreement is improper stating that “When a government attorney has a personal interest in the litigation, the neutrality so essential to the system is violated.”
While the City of Columbus
, Ohio voluntary dropped its lawsuit against the paint industry after the Rhode Island decision, the State of Ohio
's suit remains.
Working in a lead-safe manner means avoiding dry sanding, dry scraping, removing paint by torching/burning, the use of heat gun
s over 1100°F, machine-sanding or grinding without HEPA
filtered dust collection or HEPA-filtered vacuum. These methods are now prohibited by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) because they have been proved to create significant levels of lead dust during remodeling, renovation and painting. They must be avoided, especially in properties where children under age six reside. Adult workers using unsafe work practices or improper protective gear may also become lead-poisoned.
There are specialized paint strippers for use with lead paint such as LEAD-OUT Paint Stripper, Strip-Tox, Lead-X, and others. Some of these specialized strippers render lead non-hazardous decreasing the risks associated with lead paint removal.
HUD requires a dust test for "clearance" at the end of any remodeling or repainting job be performed by a third-party professional who is independent of the entity performing the work. Contact your state's lead-poisoning prevention program (call the local health department or environmental department) or look in your Yellow Pages director under "lead paint" or "environmental consultants" to locate a lead-based paint professional who can do a clearance examination for your job.
Lead evaluations of paint are usually performed by a field testing method known as X-Ray fluorescence
(XRF) using equipment such as the Olympus
Innov-X LBP4000, RMD LPA-1, or the Thermo Scientific's Niton. XRF is the preferred method because it is not destructive and a reading is usually obtained in about 4–8 seconds with a 95% accuracy at the 2-sigma level.
Instruments of this sort have an inconclusive range, and when a reading falls in this range (range is different for each instrument and model), a paint chip may be taken and sent for laboratory analysis. Testing for lead in dust, water, and air also require laboratory analysis. Commercially available lead test kits are often used to test for the presence of lead, but they are not reliable and not authorized by HUD to be used in determining if a property is lead-based-paint free.
The home's year of construction can be a clue as to the likelihood that lead is present in its paint. Generally, two thirds of homes older than 1940 contain at least some lead paint, homes built between 1940 and 1960 have a 50% chance of containing such paint, homes built between 1960 and 1978 may still contain lead paint, while homes built after 1978 are unlikely to have lead-based paint. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control performs regular studies of housing-based health hazards in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
resulted in a court case against the Lead Industries Association.
Due in great part to studies carried out by Philip J. Landrigan
Philip J. Landrigan
Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., M.Sc., is an American epidemiologist and pediatrician and one of the world's leading advocates of children's health....
, paint containing more than 0.06% (by weight of dried product) lead was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978 by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Consumer Product Safety Commission
The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is an independent agency of the United States government created in 1972 through the Consumer Product Safety Act to protect "against unreasonable risks of injuries associated with consumer products." The CPSC is an independent agency that does...
(16 Code of Federal Regulations CFR 1303). The U.S. Government defines "lead-based paint" as any "paint, surface coating that contains lead equal to or exceeding one milligram per square centimeter (1.0 mg/cm2) or 0.5% by weight." Some states have adopted this or similar definitions of "lead-based paint." These definitions are used to enforce regulations that apply to certain activities conducted in housing constructed prior to 1978, such as abatement, or the permanent elimination of a "lead-based paint hazard."
The U.S. Government and many states have regulations regarding lead-based paint. Many of them apply to evaluating a property for lead-based paint. There are two different testing procedures that are similar but yield different information. Lead-based paint inspections will evaluate all painted surfaces in a complex to determine where lead-based paint, if any, is present. The procedures for lead inspections is outlined in the HUD Guidelines, Chapter 7, 1997 Revision. The other testing is a lead-based paint risk assessment. In this testing, only deteriorated painted surfaces are tested and dust wipe samples are collected. This information will help the risk assessor determine if there are any lead hazards. Many property owners decided to get a combination of both tests to determine where the lead-based paint is present and what hazards are present as well. Risk assessments are outlined in the HUD Guidelines, Chapter 5. In addition, if a child is poisoned in a property, the owner may be required to perform abatement (permanent elimination of the lead hazard).
In 1996, the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Regulation was enacted. It requires owners of pre-1978 "target housing" to disclose to potential buyers or renters all known information about the presence of lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards in the property. It requires that the potential buyer or tenant be given the lead information pamphlet, "Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home," or other United States Environmental Protection Agency-approved pamphlet as well as a specific disclosure statement. The option of whether to test for the presence of lead-based paint is left to the owner, so long as a decision not to test is disclosed.
EPA signed a new regulation (Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP))
regarding the renovation of child-occupied buildings built before 1978 on April 22, 2008. The rule (Federal Register: July 15, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 134)) became effective April 22, 2010. Under the rule, contractors
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based coatings (including lead paint, shellac or varnish) in child-occupied facilities built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination. EPA’s RRP rule impacts many construction trades, including general contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
s and special trade contractors, painters, plumber
Plumber
A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable water, sewage, and drainage in plumbing systems. The term dates from ancient times, and is related to the Latin word for lead, "plumbum." A person engaged in fixing metaphorical "leaks" may also be...
s, carpenters
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
, window installers, wood floor refinishers and electrician
Electrician
An electrician is a tradesman specializing in electrical wiring of buildings, stationary machines and related equipment. Electricians may be employed in the installation of new electrical components or the maintenance and repair of existing electrical infrastructure. Electricians may also...
s. Activities performed by all of these trades can disturb lead-based paint and have the potential to create hazardous lead dust. For most individuals, eight hours of training is required. However, individuals who have successfully completed renovation courses developed by HUD or EPA, or an abatement worker or supervisor course accredited by EPA or an authorized State or Tribal program, can become certified renovators by taking a four hour EPA-accredited renovator refresher training.
The RRP rule is controversial, primarily due to the increased cost remodelers incur as a result of having to set up dust containment apparatuses, including sealing off doorways and HVAC
HVAC
HVAC refers to technology of indoor or automotive environmental comfort. HVAC system design is a major subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer...
ducts with plastic. Various national trade associations have been very vocal in their opposition, some going so far as to sue the EPA. Still, the EPA is deliberating expanding the rule to require contractors to pass a third-party dust wipe clearance exam to in order to complete remodel work in pre-1978 buildings.
Although the rule was not fully implemented until April 2010, certain elements were required before, and others required attention well before April 2010.
Before April 2009 – Contractors that disturb paint in homes, residential buildings, schools and child care facilities built prior to 1978 had to provide lead hazard information prior to the start of the job to building owners, occupants, and to the families of children using the facilities by distributing EPA’s new Renovate Right brochure.
As of April 2009 – Trainers could begin to apply to EPA or an EPA-approved state for accreditation, and, once approved, contractors and construction trade workers could begin to take the training to become certified.
Beginning October 2009 – Firms could apply for EPA or state certification.
Beginning April 2010 – All businesses engaged in renovation, repair or painting activities in homes, residential buildings, schools and child care facilities built prior to 1978 must be certified, use certified workers, and follow specific lead-safe work practices to prevent lead contamination.
State action against the lead paint industry
The state of Rhode IslandRhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
filed a public nuisance
Nuisance
Nuisance is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public or private. A public nuisance was defined by English scholar Sir J. F...
lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
in 1999 State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association to get the former manufacturers of lead paint to pay for the clean up of current lead hazards in Rhode Island. After a trial that ended in a hung jury
Hung jury
A hung jury or deadlocked jury is a jury that cannot, by the required voting threshold, agree upon a verdict after an extended period of deliberation and is unable to change its votes due to severe differences of opinion.- England and Wales :...
in 2002, the state refiled the case. In February 2006, the jury decided in favor of the state and said that Sherwin-Williams, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings would have to pay for the clean-up of lead paint in the state. On July 1, 2008, the Rhode Island Supreme Court in a landmark decision overturned the verdict, dismissing the case stating that "the State of Rhode Island 'cannot allege' facts sufficient to state a claim for common law public nuisance
Nuisance
Nuisance is a common law tort. It means that which causes offence, annoyance, trouble or injury. A nuisance can be either public or private. A public nuisance was defined by English scholar Sir J. F...
against lead pigment manufacturers."
In 2007, the Missouri Supreme Court and the New Jersey Supreme Court
New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It has existed in three different forms under the three different state constitutions since the independence of the state in 1776...
also rejected the use of the public nuisance theory in lead paint lawsuits, leaving Ohio and California as the only two remaining public nuisance cases.
The California Supreme Court has reviewed the contingency fee agreement between the municipalities and private counsel. A briefing schedule is currently being set.
But in recent rulings the Supreme Court held the contingent fee
Contingent fee
A contingent fee or conditional fee is any fee for services provided where the fee is only payable if there is a favourable result...
agreement is improper stating that “When a government attorney has a personal interest in the litigation, the neutrality so essential to the system is violated.”
While the City of Columbus
City of Columbus
The passenger steamer City of Columbus ran aground on Devil’s Bridge off the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, USA in January 1884. She was owned by Boston & Savannah Steamship Co. and was built in 1878. She was an early iron steamer with a tonnage of 2,200. She drew 26 feet and had a...
, Ohio voluntary dropped its lawsuit against the paint industry after the Rhode Island decision, the State of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
's suit remains.
Real estate maintenance and renovation
Humans can be poisoned during unsafe renovations or repainting jobs on housing that has lead paint. Therefore, homeowners are encouraged to carefully stabilize any deteriorated (peeling, chipping, cracking, etc.) paint in a lead-safe manner. More than 250,000 children in the United States have dangerous levels of lead in their bodies.Working in a lead-safe manner means avoiding dry sanding, dry scraping, removing paint by torching/burning, the use of heat gun
Heat gun
A heat gun is a device used to emit a stream of hot air. They are superficially similar in shape and construction to a hair dryer, though they run at much higher temperatures...
s over 1100°F, machine-sanding or grinding without HEPA
HEPA
High-Efficiency Particulate Air or HEPA is a type of air filter. Filters that are awarded the HEPA accolade are used in various locations, whether in medical facilities, automotive vehicles, airplanes, home filters, or wherever very pure air is sought. The filter must satisfy certain standards of...
filtered dust collection or HEPA-filtered vacuum. These methods are now prohibited by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government...
(HUD) because they have been proved to create significant levels of lead dust during remodeling, renovation and painting. They must be avoided, especially in properties where children under age six reside. Adult workers using unsafe work practices or improper protective gear may also become lead-poisoned.
There are specialized paint strippers for use with lead paint such as LEAD-OUT Paint Stripper, Strip-Tox, Lead-X, and others. Some of these specialized strippers render lead non-hazardous decreasing the risks associated with lead paint removal.
HUD requires a dust test for "clearance" at the end of any remodeling or repainting job be performed by a third-party professional who is independent of the entity performing the work. Contact your state's lead-poisoning prevention program (call the local health department or environmental department) or look in your Yellow Pages director under "lead paint" or "environmental consultants" to locate a lead-based paint professional who can do a clearance examination for your job.
Lead evaluations of paint are usually performed by a field testing method known as X-Ray fluorescence
X-ray fluorescence
X-ray fluorescence is the emission of characteristic "secondary" X-rays from a material that has been excited by bombarding with high-energy X-rays or gamma rays...
(XRF) using equipment such as the Olympus
Olympus Corporation
is a Japan-based manufacturer of optics and reprography products. Olympus was established on 12 October 1919, initially specializing in microscope and thermometer businesses. Its global headquarters are in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, while its USA operations are based in Center Valley, Pennsylvania,...
Innov-X LBP4000, RMD LPA-1, or the Thermo Scientific's Niton. XRF is the preferred method because it is not destructive and a reading is usually obtained in about 4–8 seconds with a 95% accuracy at the 2-sigma level.
Instruments of this sort have an inconclusive range, and when a reading falls in this range (range is different for each instrument and model), a paint chip may be taken and sent for laboratory analysis. Testing for lead in dust, water, and air also require laboratory analysis. Commercially available lead test kits are often used to test for the presence of lead, but they are not reliable and not authorized by HUD to be used in determining if a property is lead-based-paint free.
The home's year of construction can be a clue as to the likelihood that lead is present in its paint. Generally, two thirds of homes older than 1940 contain at least some lead paint, homes built between 1940 and 1960 have a 50% chance of containing such paint, homes built between 1960 and 1978 may still contain lead paint, while homes built after 1978 are unlikely to have lead-based paint. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control performs regular studies of housing-based health hazards in the U.S.
See also
- Lead safe work practicesLead safe work practicesMandated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development standard 24 CFR Part 1330 , Lead Safe Work Practices provide those performing remodeling task in homes built before 1978 with guidelines on procedures they should be using to prevent creating a lead hazard.Lead poisoning...
- Environmental issues with paint
- Environmental issues in the United StatesEnvironmental issues in the United StatesAs with many other countries there are a number of environmental issues in the United States.-Climate change:The United States is the second largest emitter, after China, of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels. The energy policy of the United States is widely debated; many call on the...