An official advisory group within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) met in Washington this week as part of its effort to reduce the federal benchmark at which children's exposure to lead from paint and other sources merits public health actions.
The Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (CHPAC) says its No. 1 priority is to strengthen the EPA's Lead-Based Paint Hazard Standard for lead in paint, dust, and soil. Such efforts could ultimately affect the EPA's lead-paint rule depending on whether and how EPA takes the committee's advice.
CHPAC is focused on reducing lead exposure nationwide, especially via lead paint, which it says is the most significant source of elevated blood lead levels in young children. The current reference level for lead paint exposure--the level at which the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends public health actions be taken to protect children--is currently 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood. The CDC is expected to lower that limit to 3.5 µg/dL this year, and CHPAC wants the EPA to use that as its new benchmark.
"There are no safe blood lead levels for children" CPHAC said in a letter to the EPA after last year's meeting. "Even levels below 5 µg/dL are associated with decreased academic achievement, lower IQ scores, attention-related behavior problems, and antisocial behavior."
The standard for blood lead levels has been falling sharply since it was established in 2001, as it was initially set at 10 µg/dL. Despite a steady theme of deregulation in the Trump administration, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is now poised to drop that standard even further, having made the reduction of lead exposures one of the agency's top priorities.
In addition to not being fully developed, children drink more water, eat more food, and even breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults, putting them at a particular risk to lead exposure. Because of this, CHPAC says millions of U.S. children are still being exposed to lead, even though total exposure levels have fallen almost 94% since the 1970's.
Lead exposure is extremely common in houses built before 1978, when lead paint was banned. A new investigative report from KALW Radio in San Francisco found several hot spots of high lead levels throughout the area.
