Do you have a child in your life under the age of 6. Are they lead poisoned? No? How do you know?
If you and/or your child spend time in a home (or daycare, or office) built before 1900, know that HUD says 9 out of 10 of those buildings were painted with lead. As that paint deteriorates it produces tiny particles of lead dust (too small to see) that can be breathed in by your infant or toddler. Or by you. In addition, little ones crawl on carpet and flooring where these tiny bits of dust have landed, they get on the child’s hands and into their mouths. How do they get poisoned? It is often not the paint or the water, it’s just the dust. They don’t have to “chew on the windowsills” they just have to live in the house, and they eat and breath this tiny poison. The amount of lead dust that it takes to poison a child is smaller than a grain of sugar.
I have published a short, easy to read, book about the topic and I was asked to give a zoom presentation about the book at a recent conference, which is available here to watch at no charge.
If there is chipping peeling paint anywhere in your older home, here are a few easy steps you can take
- Test the kids. Your doctor, WIC clinic, Head start, Preschool should be able to connect you with a quick blood test to see if you or your child has lead in your blood. Anything over 3 ug/dl is a concern.
- Test your house. A State or Epa licensed lead inspector or risk assessor can do it for you if you want the entire house tested. Or you can test areas yourself using 3m lead check swabs, but be sure to follow directions, and cut through any “top layers” of paint to get all the way to the first layer.
- Raise Awareness. Do a little research! You can start with my TEDx talk “why you should worry about lead poisoning in a new home” which covers techniques for older homes as well. Then tell everyone you know what you learned. Share this information with other parents, grandparents, caregivers, pediatricians, schools, landlords, contractors. Get on the same page with your support group to protect your kids.
- Use lead safe work practices around your home. As you learned in the TEDx talk above, this can be as simple as “take your shoes off at the door” and use a HEPA Vac for cleaning and wet disposable wipes
- If you are going to hire a contractor to do lead safe renovations – Hire one that is RRP certified. If you want full abatement – hire one that is Lead Abatement Certified. Not sure which you need? Get the answers to these and other questions at our youtube channel
Questions about Lead Paint? We’ve got answers! Learn more here
This post is written by Kate Kirkwood, author, TEDx speaker, trainer, lead abatement contractor