Document O3K5LNyppE253x9oxeqa3X6RX

(She frTeUt fork fctntcs Real Estate ' Sunday, Aprii ?, i<m --10 The Pervasive Problem of Lead Paint A Federal Report Finds 57 Million Dwellings May Pose Health Risks By THOMAS J.LUECK JBFTER decades of anxiety over the health risks of lead-based paint in older American homes, a spate of suits, court rulings, Government reports and medical studies is raising broad new fears over the extent of the problem and the huge cost of removing the threat. Health experts say the paint, which contains lead as a pigment, is emerging as one of the most pervasive environmental hazards in the nation. A study by the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Develop ment, released in December, found trTartwo-thirds of the privately owned homes and apartment buildings con structed before 1980 -- 57 million dwellings in all -- contained lead-based paint j It also concluded that 3.8 million homes were a ``priority hazard" because they were occupied by fam ilies with young children, and the paint had peeled or / discharged high levels of lead dust While prompting new worries, the research has also created a quandary for home sellers and buyers, partic ularly those with small children. Since Massachusetts is the only state with rigorous laws requiring lead paint removal, experts say most families lack clear guide lines to how much lead-based paint is in their homes and at what point it is an unacceptable risk. First identified as a hazard to children in the 1950's, lead-based paint was banned for use in all homes and most buildings in 1978. At the time, Congress was persuaded by mounting evidence that lead was respon sible for learning disabilities and even deaths, mainly among youngsters in poorly maintained, publicly assist ed housing who had swallowed peeling or chipped paint. More recent medical research shows the threat to be far more widespread. . . "The older the home, the more probable there is lead paint, and the problem doesn't know socioeconomic bounds," said Joseph Carra, deputy director of the Office of Toxic Substances of the Federal Environmen tal Protection Agency. In the last four months, his agency, H.U.D. and the Centers for Disease Control have submitted reports to Congress on lead-paint hazards. The reports find that the biggest threat may be from dust emitted by lead paint, rather than the more obvious problem of chips or peeling paint. Severe retar dation, stunted growth and even death have been linked to lead ingested or inhaled by children and the Govern ment researchers say it can be responsible for lowered Continued on Page S, Col. 1 Crew removing material with lead-based paint in Bedford-Stuyvesant rowhouse. Dith Prani-The New York Time* I IThe All-Pervasive Problem of Le Continued From Page 1 intelligence, hyperactivity and more subtle problems in early childhood development Lead-based paint was used almost univer sally before 1950, and was applied most liber- ! ally in expensive homes because it was con- ! sidered the most attractive and durable wall j covering. Government researchers say that means most people living in homes more than 40 years old can assume some lead- based paint is there even if it has been covered and sealed away under more recent coats that pose no hazard, ; Coming at a time when other hazardous ! materials in homes have been brought to | public consciousness -- radon gas and asbes- \ tos among them -- some experts say the new ! data on lead-based paint may evoke little ! more than sighs of resignation from home- j owners. j "It might seem little more than the scare r : of the week," said Stephanie Pollack, staff t,. fi. ; attorney for the Conservation Law Founda! tion, a nonprofit group in Massachusetts, and , an adviser to the Centers for Disease Control t > and other Federal agencies. K Others fear burdensome new rules requir ing removal of the paint. "We are concerned that new regulations will be excessive and ineffective," said Dick E_. r. There is little agreement on remedial procedures. Morris, a senior technical advisor for the National Association of Home Builders. He added that new laws requiring homeowners to pay thousands of dollars to remove old paint may provide no more protection than if they simply washed and dusted their wood work on a routine basis. "As long as lead paint is. bound to the surface, it is hard to get into people's blood," i` he said. ' No one questions that removing or perma nently encasing lead-based paint is expen sive. But there is little agreement over what procedures are necessary. Options include scraping away all rem nants of lead paint, covering it with protec tive coats of another finish, or some combina tion in which floor moldings, window sills and other areas most likely to come into contact with young children are replaced, and all lead paint on walls within five feet of the floor is removed. "It has to done on a case-by-case basis," said Mohammad Afzal, president of Fine Construction, a Queens company that is among more than a dozen contractors hired by New York City to remove lead paint from buildings cited, for safety violations. Among other infractions, city inspectors look for peeling or chipped paint. At work last week on a three-story rowhouse on Patchen Avenue in the BedfordStuyvesant section of Brooklyn, Mr. Afzal's crew wore respirators, used plastic sheeting and duct tape liberally to keep the dust from settling into cracks on the floor, and replaced moldings and window sills rather than trying to remove layers of paint from them. The cost, which the city will try to recover from the owner of the Brooklyn rowhouse, is $8,000. In almost all cases, Mr. Afzal said, lead-paint removal or containment will cost homeowners "thousands, not hundreds." In its report to Congress, H.U.D. estimated that the cost of dealing with lead-based paint in homes across the country would range from $2,100 to $11,900 per home, depending on the procedures used. One report to Congress said the total national cost could be as high as $499 billion. . "We don't want to break the bank, but people must realize that lead-based paint is a very serious long-term hazard," said Dr. Sue Binder, director of the lead poisoning preven tion branch of the Centers for Disease Con trol. "When we look at what we as a society are paying as a result of kids with develop mental problems, dropping out of school and suffering permanent injury, it may outweigh the price of abatement." In a flurry of reports and recent Congres sional hearings, her assessment has been echoed by several senior officials of the Bush Administration. In February, Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, called lead poisoning "the No. 1 environmen tal hazard facing our children." NE key policy change, experts say, O(could come later this month when Dr. Binder's agency is expected to recom mend to physicians across the country that every child under the age of 7 be routinely screened for lead poisoning. The agency is also widely expected to lower the threshold of exposure that it would officially deem as hazardous, from a current level of 25 micro grams per deciliter of blood to 15 or 10 micrograms. If the threshold were lowered to 15 micro grams, Federal studies estimate, 17 percent of the nation's big-city children 6 months to 5 years old would test out as threatened with long-term developmental problems. And as that worry sinks in with parents across the country, some suggest that lead-based paint will become a greater environmental issue. "The amazing thing is how many people have the problem and don't know it," said Ms. Pollack of the Conservation Law Founda tion. If the new standard is adopted, she added, "parents will be outraged." For now, the experts say, there are no easy or complete answers for families and homeowners worried about lead paint in their homes, but they offer a laundry list of sugges- Monica Santiago and parents Rayito and Carmen at house in Mattapan, Mass., where Monica was injured by lead-based paint. c tions. ' fl One is to avoid partial, do-it-yourself paint removal projects in older homes. Often, they warn, weekend fix-up projects have only served to expose layers of lead paint that would otherwise have been safely covered by other, more recent coats. Such amateur. .. work, particularly if it involves scraping, also runs the: risk of freeing dangerous amounts of lead dust, which comes to rest on floors or in crevices within the reach of small children. ; Researchers say the most hazardous areas of exposure are floor moldings, window sills, stair banisters and balusters and old wood work that is within the reach of a child's < hands or tongue. If parents fear these are covered with lead paint -- particularly if the paint is peeling or damaged -- the best advice may be to remove and replace the ; sills, woodwork or other elements, Perhaps most important for people in old < homes is to keep their walls and floors clean. Routine washing of walls, floors and wood- Crew?!moving material with lead-based paint in Bedford-Stuyvesant rowhouse. 3 NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 1991 roblem of Lead-Based Paint nen- say, com that jneiy cy is Did of n as licro>r 10 licrorcent s to 5 with id as s the paint >sue. eople said unda- she i easy lometheir igges- Cindy M. Loo for The New York Times Monica Santiago and parents Rayito and Carmen at house in Mattapan, Mass., where Monica was iniured by lead-based paint, tions. One is to avoid partial, do-it-yourself paint removal projects in older homes. Often, they warn, weekend fix-up projects have only served to expose layers of lead paint that would otherwise have been safely covered by other, more recent coats. Such amateur work, particularly if it involves scraping, also runs the risk of freeing dangerous amounts of lead dust, which comes to rest on floors or in crevices within the reach of small children. Researchers say the most hazardous areas of exposure are floor moldings, window sills, stair banisters and balusters and old woodwork that is within the reach of a child's hands or tongue. If parents fear these are covered with lead paint -- particularly if the paint is peeling or damaged -- the best advice may be to remove and replace the sills, woodwork or other elements, Perhaps most important for people in old homes is to keep their walls and floors clean, Routine washing of walls, floors and wood work will greatly reduce any risk of expo Solms, said their 3-year-old daughter suf sure, the experts say. fered high levels of lead exposure in the And while many legal questions remain house and it is too early to tell whether she about who is liable for personal injury and will have long-term developmental prob the cost of lead-paint removal, real estate lems. But he added that the family was executives say the besi policy for people forced to move out because of the risks and buying an old home is to ask the seller or his cannot afford the necessary repairs, which broker if it contains lead paint. Although might cost $94,000. sellers may not know the answer, they would Mr. Levin, calling the lead paint a "latent be obligated to disclose any knowledge of a defect" in the house, said the seller, bank and health threat. realtor were obligated to fix it, even though Increasingly, the unresolved legal and the Solms family signed a standard sales health questions ate being addressed in agreement acknowledging they were buying courts and in medical research. the home in "as is" condition. In March, the Centers for Disease Control The Maryland suit and prospect of others reported that a 28-month-old Wisconsin boy like it are worrying real estate industry died from eating lead-paint chips that had executives across the nation. fallen from the walls of his family's home. It "A broker is licensed to sell property, not said the case was the first death connected to to search for lead paint, asbestos or any other lead paint in a decade, adding that it under hazardous material," said William D. North, scored the need for routine testing of all a lawyer and executive vice president of the children. National Association of Realtors. He added that the problem for brokers, as well as for N February, a New York State Appellate many home sellers, is that lead-based paint is I court ruled that New York City must often buried under several more recent coats intensify its efforts to remove lead-based of paint and difficult to detect, and Federal paint in cases where landlords are cited for agencies have failed to provide "any reason building violations. It said that the city, which able standard" for what levels of lead-based retains outside contractors Ao remove the paint are acceptable. paint in some cases, must now do so within 24 For now, the task of writing new regula hours, treat lead dust as just as great a tions for lead-based paint removal or con ^hazard as chips or peeling paint, and remove tainment is falling largely on state legisla or encapsulate the paint in all buildings that tures. Although more than a dozen states are cited, including those built since 1960, adopted laws in the 1960's requiring removal when the sale of lead paint was banned by a of the paint after homeowners or landlords city law. , are cited for safety violations -- normally "I am not sure that'all of New York City after a child is injured -- a few states are will have to be encapsulated, but this puts a expanding the rules. new focus on the problem, ' ' said Megan Cbar- The most sweeping law is in Massachu lop, director of the New York City Coalition to setts, which since 1988 has required the re End Lead Poison, one of the plaintiffs that moval of lead-based paint from homes in had sought the Appellate Court ruling. which childremunder 7 live. Although it does In Boston, lawyers said they expect a trial not require the removal of all lead paint, the date in August in the case of Monica Santia paint must be dealt with on all moldings,, go, an 18-year-old who has learning disabili window sills and other areas, that children ties and has been in special education classes are likely to come into contact with, and on since the 1970's, when her family lived in all wall areas within five feet of the floor. Mattapan, a Boston suburb, in a house with The law requires home sellers to inform high levels of lead paint. She has already won buyers if there is lead paint in the house, or, if $25,000 in damages from the owner of the they do not know, to give buyers 10 days to house, and her attorney, Neil T. Leifer, is have it inspected. Experts say the effect has seeking damages from the Sherwin Williams been that the cost of removing the paint has Company and five other manufacturers that become part of the negotiation in home sales, marketed lead-based paints before they were and shared by buyers and sellers. banned in 1978. Massachusetts requires doctors to test all The paint makers are also being sued by children 1 to 4 years old annually for lead New York City, Philadelphia and other cities, poisoning. It also has established training which claim that they were aware of the and licensing standards for workers who test hazards of lead-based paint long before its for the presence of lead paint and remove or use was banned, but continued to make and encase it, and gives homeowners a $1,000 market the product. state income tax abatement to partially off In another court case that is raising new set the cost of paying for this. questions about liability for the costs of lead- Experts say the most rigorous proposal for based paint removal, attorneys in Maryland new laws is in Rhode Island, where bill were say they will go to trial later this month introduced in March creating rules and fi seeking damages from a realtor and mort nancial incentives similar to those in Massa gage lender who were involved in the 1988 chusetts but making home sellers responsi sale of a home, as well as the Roman Catholic ble for removing or encapsulating lead-based Church, which sold it. paint before selling. The bills would also Barry Levin, an Annapolis attorney for the require all landlords to remove such paint plaintiffs in the case, Christian and Melissa before renting an apartment. B