ABBEY HOME INSPECTORS, INC
(800) 353-0393
Technical Letter
THE LEAD PAINT PROBLEM
Media Attention to Lead
Lead poisoning has increasingly become a popular subject of the media. The subject came up even on the "Tonight Show". Recently while Linda Ronstadt was singing, the cameras gave much attention to an unusual orchestral instrument from which the musician generated heavenly tones while rubbing his fingers on spinning glass of varying diameters. The instrument seemed to steal the show from Ms Ronstadt to the point that Jay Leno’s first words were questions on the instrument. Ms. Ronstadt explained that the instrument was popular during the 19th century but it was discovered that everybody that used the instrument regularly suffered from madness. So the instrument was banned.
Ms Ronstadt explained that the glass that was rubbed is lead crystal and the madness was caused by lead poisoning. It was also discovered that only lead crystal will produce these great sounds. Ms Ronstadt said that the musician playing the instrument had his blood lead levels checked regularly but no further details were given.
While this case illustrates the seriousness of lead poisoning, the concern of most people should be the lead in paint rather than the lead in crystal.
Pick Your Poison
As an environmental issue in the home, Radon and asbestos are no match to lead. Both Radon and asbeatos are environmental concerns of a long term nature with problems showing up 20 or more years after excessive exposure. The effects of lead poisoning are almost immediate, especially in children. Radon and asbestos cause health problems through inhalation, while lead causes problems both through inhalation and ingestion (and in unusual cases through rubbing action). Also, humans have a much higher tolerance for Radon and asbestos compared to lead. "A child can become severely lead poisoned by eating one milligram of lead paint dust equivalent 3 granules of sugar each day during childhood."
Ingested or inhaled lead will get into the blood stream where it slows the production of hemoglobin, which cells need to carry oxygen. The lead also inactivates essential enzymes in the brain. There is an effect on all age levels, but can be particularly devastating to children because their developmental nervous systems are more sensitive to low level exposures. An exposed child can experience developmental delay, speech disorders, hyperactivity, loss of IQ and brain seizures.
There is effective treatment for lead poisoning provided the treatment does not begin before too much damage has occurred. A process called chelation therapy uses drugs that bind to the lead in the blood stream and thereafter is discarded with the urine.
Middle and Upper Class Afffected
A common public misconception is that the lead problems are only with the poor in improperly maintained homes. Dr. J. Raettig, director of Loyola University’s Pediatric Lead Clinic, said that up to a third of the clinic’s patients are not from low income families.
A few years ago, a young couple with a two year old son bought a stately townhouse in the Washington, D.C. area, where homes cost $300,000 and more. They had the exterior trim on the house stripped and repainted. A subsequent blood test on their son showed such high lead levels that he had to be hospitalized for a week. The lead flakes and particles were on the ground and in the air and found its way into the house where the child ingested and inhaled this toxic substance. The family spent $10,000 to remove the lead from the house and yard.
A Milwaukee couple with a young child took the precaution of contacting an engineer on the safest method of removing interior woodwork paint on their older home. The engineer’s advice was to use a heat gun, which proved to be tragic. This child got severe lead poisoning. What was particularly troubling to the child’s health was the long time, over a year, to discover the problem.
Lead contamination does not always come from your house. It can be caused by a neighborhood problem as a Wheaton, Illinois mother discovered. Everybody, including her doctor, told her not to worry about lead poisoning. After reading a magazine article on the problem, blood tests were made on her daughter and showed that lead was building up. After spending $30,000 to remove lead from their house, it was found that her daughter continued to be poisoned from neighborhood contamination.
Testing Methods
It is obvious with this background that there is a need for accurate testing for lead problems. Casual statements by home inspectors or inaccurate tests can have a serious downside.
The most accurate methods of testing for lead in paint are with equipment using x-ray fluorescence (XRF) or by sending chip samples to a qualified laboratory. Home kits which apply swab tests of a chemical on a surface are not used by professionals because of a lack of reliability, especially at low levels of lead.
Laboratory analysis of chip samples cost approximately $30 per sample. With the many tests needed for complete analysis and the highly invasive nature of chipping out test samples of paint, this method cannot be considered practical as part of home inspections.
The XRF machine is currently the state of the art equipment for testing the lead content in paint. The equipment is expensive and there are only a few firms providing this service in the Chicago area. It is accurate in determining whether or not there is lead in a particular cross section of paint and reasonably accurate in analyzing the level of concentration. The Spectrum Analyzer type of XRF machine is supposed to be able to determine whether the lead is on the surface or imbedded in multilayered paint surfaces.
Guidelines
Considering the research and experience gathered to date, Abbey Home Inspectors has some practical recommendations on dealing with lead paint problems.
1. Contact the local EPA and county health department for written material and consultation.
2. Contact your pediatrician on the need to have your children tested for lead levels. Note, the state of Illinois currently requires nursery school and kindergarten children through age 6 to be tested for lead poisoning.
3. Avoid disturbing any interior and exterior paint unless it is known to be lead free. Note, exterior paint and interior trim paint that predates 1978, the year the law was passed banning lead paint, are more likely to contain lead. Non-painted floors are unlikely and interior walls and ceilings are less likely to have lead problems. Radiators are likely to have lead content.
4. If painted surfaces are in unsound condition (peeling or chalking), have the paint checked for lead content and if necessary removed professionally. Do not use a vacuum cleaner unless it has a HEPA ( high efficiency particulate air) rating. A trisodium phosphate solution is recommended to clean up dust or chalky areas for temporary repairs.
5. Removal of lead by untrained individuals is not recommended but when working with lead, you should be covered from head to toe with the proper attire. It is especially important to have a proper respirator (cloth masks are not effective). Keep children out of the home during any cleanup or removal operation.
6. Chemical peel away removal methods are preferred. It may be that encapsulation rather than than removal will be a more practical choice. Consult with an expert.
7. Check the credentials of the contractors employed to remove lead paint. Make sure they are state certified. Question them on their means of containment and removal.
Avoid Irrational Alarm
There is a tendency when reading articles on lead poisoning or hearing statistics on the subject to become unduly alarmed. The statistics are indeed alarming. For instance, the Center For Disease Control currently estimates that one out of six children in the U.S. are lead poisoned. However, J.R. Reigart, Chairman of the American Academy of Pediatricians, says that a vast majority of these children (93%) have levels low enough to require little remedial action.
A Chicago pediatrician says many parents are becoming terrorized by media stories on lead poisoning and want their offspring tested. He says that most such testing is a waste and that there is too much concern with the well off and not enough with the not so well off. A parent can become so focussed on the lead danger that more meaningful hazards will be overlooked.
It is a policy with Abbey Home Inspectors to answer questions by clients on lead problems during a home inspection but to defer to other companies for actual testing.
Robert V. Gallo P.E.