Lead

Did you know the following facts about lead? EPA DOES!

Under part 503, EPA will allow 840 ppm of lead in sludge to be sprayed into the air with a total disposal of 300 kilograms
per hectare. When they reached the land loading limit in Kansas City, the records show counting started over from zero.

Did you know the following facts about lead? EPA DOES!
  • FACT: Lead exposure can harm young children and babies even before they are born.
  • FACT: Even children who seem healthy can have high levels of lead in their bodies.
  • FACT: You can get lead in your body by breathing or swallowing lead dust, or by eating soil or paint chips
    containing lead.

Health Effects of Lead
  • *Childhood lead poisoning remains a major environmental health problem in the U.S..*
  • *Even children who appear healthy can have dangerous levels of lead in their bodies.*
  • Children's blood lead levels tend to increase rapidly from 6 to 12 months of age, and tend to peak at 18 to 24
    months of age.

People can get lead in their body if they:
  • Put their hands or other objects covered with lead dust in their mouths.
  • Eat paint chips or soil that contains lead.
  • Breathe in lead dust (especially during renovations that disturb painted surfaces).

Lead is even more dangerous to children than adults because:
  • Babies and young children often put their hands and other objects in their mouths. These objects can have lead
    dust on them.
  • Children's growing bodies absorb more lead.
  • Children's brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead.

If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from:
  • Damage to the brain and nervous system
  • Behavior and learning problems (such as hyperactivity)
  • Slowed growth
  • Hearing problems
  • Headaches

Lead is also harmful to adults. Adults can suffer from:
  • Difficulties during pregnancy
  • Other reproductive problems (in both men and women)
  • High blood pressure
  • Digestive problems
  • Nerve disorders
  • Memory and concentration problems
  • Muscle and joint pain

In soil around a home. (Soil can pick up lead from exterior paint, or other sources such as past use of leaded gas in
cars.) [and sludge/biosolids] Household dust. (Dust can pick up lead from deteriorating lead-based paint or from soil
tracked into a home.) The job. If you work with lead, you could bring it home on your hands or clothes. Shower and
change clothes before coming home. Launder your work clothes separately from the rest of your family's clothes

[Lead in sludge is a dust when dry] Lead dust can form when lead-based paint is dry scraped, dry sanded, or heated.
Dust also forms when painted surfaces bump or rub together. Lead chips and dust can get on surfaces and objects that
people touch. Settled lead dust can re-enter the air when people vacuum, sweep, or walk through it. Lead in soil can be
a hazard when children play in bare soil or when people bring soil into the house on their shoes.

Contact the National Lead Information Center (NLIC) to find out about testing soil for lead.

Clean or remove shoes before entering your home to avoid tracking in lead from soil.
A risk assessment tells you if there are any sources of serious lead exposure (such as peeling paint and lead dust). It
also tells you what actions to take to address these hazards. Have qualified professionals do the work. There are
standards in place for certifying lead-based paint professionals to ensure the work is done safely, reliably, and
effectively.

To permanently remove lead hazards, you must hire a certified lead "abatement" contractor. Abatement (or permanent
hazard elimination) methods include removing, sealing, or enclosing lead-based paint with special materials. Just
painting over the hazard with regular paint is not enough. Always hire a person with special training for correcting lead
problems--someone who knows how to do this work safely and has the proper equipment to clean up thoroughly.
Certified contractors will employ qualified workers and follow strict safety rules set by their state or the federal
government.

Contact the National Lead Information Center(NLIC) for help with locating certified contractors in your area
and to see if financial assistance is available.

Federal law requires that individuals receive certain information before renting or buying a pre-1978 housing:
Residential Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Program

  • LANDLORDS have to disclose known information on lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before
    leases take effect. Leases must include a disclosure form about lead-based paint.
  • SELLERS have to disclose known information on lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before selling a
    house. Sales contracts must include a disclosure form about lead-based paint. Buyers have up to 10 days to
    check for lead hazards.

Federal law requires that contractors provide lead information to residents before renovating a pre-1978 housing:
Pre-Renovation Education Program (PRE) RENOVATORS have to give you a pamphlet titled "Protect Your Family from
Lead in Your Home", before starting work. (36)

Lets see: EPA said small quantities of lead was Bad in paint!. EPA said small quantities of Lead was Bad in Gasoline!
EPA said small quantities of lead was Bad in shot gun shells! EPA said small quantities of lead was Bad in the homes
and yards of Herculaneum, Missouri!

In fact, EPA stated,  "Protecting the children in Herculaneum, Missouri is a top priority for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency"

The EPA order directs Doe Run to:
  • #  Clean up homes, within 30 days, of  children six years old and younger who have elevated blood lead levels. As
    new homes are identified, Doe Run will clean up these homes within 30 days
  • Clean up all homes, within four months, where lead in the soil is above 400 parts per million (ppm) and children six
    years old and younger live at the home
  • Clean up homes, parks, playgrounds, and schools, within six months, where lead in the soil is above 10,000 ppm
  • Clean up homes, parks, playgrounds, and schools, within one year, where lead in the soils is between 2,500 and
    10,000 ppm
  • Clean up the interior of the homes within 20 days of the yard cleanup completions

Health Information
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services
continue to work very closely with EPA and MNDR.

We encourage you to have your child tested for lead exposure. Please contact your private physician or the Jefferson
County Health Department at 636-789-3372 to have your child tested

We advise you to continue to take the following actions to reduce your and your children's exposure to lead. It is
advisable to take the following actions:

  • # Have children play on solid grass cover in yards or parks.
  • # Remove shoes before entering your home.
  • # Do not allow children to play in the street or on the curbs.
  • # Encourage children not to put their hands in their mouths.
  • # Encourage frequent hand and face washing before eating, drinking and sleeping. (37)

However, EPA Office of Water is promoting unknown quantities of lead (A known endocrine disruptor) as a soil
amendment for your lawn and garden as well as your children's school yards and of course the farm children.



 
1.6 How can lead affect children?        

This section discusses potential health effects from exposures during the period from conception to maturity at 18 years
of age in humans.  Potential effects on children resulting from exposures of the parents are also considered. Studies
carried out by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the levels of lead in the blood of U.S.
children have been getting lower and lower.  This is because lead is banned from gasoline, residential paint, and solder
that is used for food cans and water pipes.  Still, about 900,000 U.S. children between the ages of 1 and 5 years are
believed to have blood lead levels equal or greater than 10 µg/dL, the CDC level of concern.  Children are more
vulnerable to lead poisoning than adults.  Children are exposed to lead all through their lives.  They can be exposed to
lead in the womb if their mothers have lead in their bodies.  Babies can swallow lead when they breast feed, or eat other
foods and drink water that contains lead.  Babies and children can swallow and breathe lead in dirt, dust, or sand while
they play on the floor or ground.  These activities make it easier for children to be exposed to lead than adults.  The dirt
or dust on their hands, toys, and other items may have lead particles in it.  In some cases children swallow nonfood
items such as paint chips; these may contain very large amounts of lead,  particularly in and around older houses that
were painted with lead-based paint.  The paint in these houses often chips off and mixes with dust and dirt.  Some old
paint is 5-40% lead.  Also, compared to adults, a bigger proportion of the amount of lead swallowed will enter the blood
in children.  Children are more sensitive to the effects of lead than adults.  Lead affects children in different ways
depending how much lead a child swallows.  A child who swallows large amounts of lead will develop blood anemia,
kidney damage, colic (severe "stomachache"), muscle weakness, and brain damage which can kill the child.  A large
amount of lead might get into a child's body if the child ate small pieces of old paint that contained large amounts of
lead.  If a child swallows smaller amounts of lead, much less severe effects on blood and brain function may occur.  In
this case, recovery is likely once the child is removed from the source of lead exposure and the amount of lead in the
child's body is lowered by giving the child certain drugs that help eliminate lead from the body.  At still lower levels of
exposure, lead can affect a child's mental and physical growth.  Fetuses exposed to lead in the womb, because their
mothers had a lot of lead in their bodies, may be born prematurely and have lower weights at birth.  Exposure in the
womb, in infancy, or in early childhood may also slow mental development and lower intelligence later in childhood.  
There is evidence that some effects may persist beyond childhood.        
 
1.5 How can lead affect my health?        

The effects of lead are the same whether it enters the body through breathing or swallowing.  The main target for lead
toxicity is the nervous system, both in adults and in children.  Long-term exposure of adults to lead at work has resulted
in decreased performance in some tests that measure functions of the nervous system. Lead exposure may also cause
weakness in fingers, wrists, or ankles.  Some studies in humans have suggested that lead exposure may increase blood
pressure, but the evidence is inconclusive.  Lead exposure may also cause anemia, a low number of blood cells.  The
connection between the occurrence of some of these effects (e.g., increased blood pressure, altered function of the
nervous system) and low levels of exposure to lead is not certain.  At high levels of exposure, lead can severely damage
the brain and kidneys in adults or children.  In pregnant women, high levels of exposure to lead may cause miscarriage.  
High-level exposure in men can damage the organs responsible for sperm production.

We have no proof that lead causes cancer in humans. Kidney tumors have developed in rats and mice given large
doses of lead.  The animal studies have been criticized because of the very high doses used, among other things.  The
results of high-dose studies should not be used to predict whether lead may cause cancer in humans.  The Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that lead acetate and lead phosphate may reasonably be
expected to be capable of causing cancer, based on sufficient evidence from animal studies, but there is inadequate
evidence from human studies        
 
 http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs13.html