EPA to Crack Down on Remodelers' Lead Dust to reduce childrens' exposure

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: EPA to Crack Down on Remodelers' Lead Dust
New EPA regulations for homes built before 1978 seek to reduce children's exposure.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
June 25, 2006

After a decade of delays and facing a congressional goal to eliminate childhood lead poisoning by 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency is on the verge of adopting a hotly contested rule that tackles one of the last major dangers still posed by lead: the poisonous dust stirred up by remodeling.

Although lead paint was banned nearly 30 years ago, homeowners and their contractors can unwittingly create an invisible hazard for millions of children when they renovate their homes and unleash the potent, brain-damaging poison.

Now, the EPA has proposed a regulation that would require training and certification of contractors and prescribe lead-safe work practices in pre-1978 houses inhabited by children under age 6.

The cost of home renovations would rise by an estimated $500 million per year — most of which would be passed on to property owners — while saving up to $5 billion a year in children's health and education costs, according to the EPA's economic analysis.

About 38 million homes — 40% of the nation's housing — contain lead-based paint, and most of them are in middle-class and even affluent neighborhoods....

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-leadpaint25jun25,0,5400482.story?coll=la-home-local

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Finally, an environmental illness that affect mainly Republicans

:sarcasm: (not totally, though)



Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[flamin lib]

2. Now if they'd just crack down on coal fired electrical plants maybe

three out of four fish in fresh water wouldn't be unfit to eat because of lead content.