Biden administration finalizes 'zero tolerance' lead paint dust standard

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced the finalized version of a federal rule tightening standards for exposure to lead paint dust.

The rule, which finalizes a proposal issued last June, will tighten the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hazard level for lead dust to the point that any amount detected in a building would be considered dangerous. The agency estimates nearly 1.2 million people a year would be exposed to lower levels of lead under the rule, including as many as 326,000 children younger than six.

Despite the nearly half-century old ban on lead paint, it remains in an estimated 31 million homes built before 1978, including 3.8 million homes where children under 6 live, an EPA official said on a call with reporters. Dust from flaking and peeling paint remains an ongoing threat as those structures age, and they are disproportionately located in Black, Latino and low-income neighborhoods.

The official summarized the final rule as a “zero-tolerance standard,” saying that if lead levels exceed that threshold, abatement specialists will be deployed and “their jobs will not be considered done until they have reached the lowest levels of lead our labs can reliably detect.”

Lead exposure has been linked to low birth weight and impaired brain development and motor skills in children.

“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 a statement. “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,” Regan continued.

The final rule comes weeks after another EPA rule requiring water systems to replace all water lines containing lead in the next 10 years, projecting the standard would avert 900,000 cases of low birth weight in infants and 1,500 premature heart disease deaths per year.