EPA issues 'zero-tolerance' rule for lead in homes

Energy & Environment

The Big Story

EPA issues 'zero-tolerance' rule for lead in homes

The Biden administration issued a rule Thursday that it says will reduce Americans' exposure to lead.

The rule declares that any level of lead dust that's detected is considered dangerous and would trigger a cleanup.

As a result, nearly 1.2 million people a year will be exposed to lower levels of lead, including as many as 326,000 children younger than six, the agency projected.

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

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 described the 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.”

Read more at TheHill.com.

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