William Menrath

Lead levels in new enamel household paints from Asia, Africa and South America.

In 2006 a report on the analysis for lead in 80 new residential paints from four countries in Asia revealed high levels in three of the countries (China, India and Malaysia) and low levels in a fourth country (Singapore) where a lead in paint regulation was enforced. The authors warned of the possible export of lead-painted consumer products to the United States and other countries and the dangers the lead paint represented to children in the countries where it was available for purchase. The need for a worldwide ban on the use of lead in paints was emphasized to prevent an increase in exposure and disease from this very preventable environmental source. Since the earlier paper almost 300 additional new paint samples have been collected from the four initial countries plus 8 additional countries, three from Asia, three from Africa and two from South America. During the intervening time period two million toys and other items imported into the United States were recalled because the lead content exceeded the United States standard. High lead paints were detected in all 12 countries. The average lead concentration by country ranged from 6988 (Singapore) to 31,960ppm (Ecuador). One multinational company sold high lead paint in one country through January 2007 but sold low lead paint later in 2007 indicating that a major change to cease adding lead to their paints had occurred. However, the finding that almost one-third of the samples would meet the new United States standard for new paint of 90ppm, suggests that the technology is already available in at least 11 of the 12 countries to produce low lead enamel paints for domestic use. The need remains urgent to establish effective worldwide controls to prevent the needless poisoning of millions of children from this preventable exposure.

The Influence of Exterior Dust and Soil Lead on Interior Dust Lead Levels in Housing That Had Undergone Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control

To aid in understanding the contribution of exterior dust/soil lead to postintervention interior dust lead, a subset of housing from the HUD Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program Evaluation was selected for study. Housing from 12 state and local governments was included. Exterior entry and street dust samples were obtained by a vacuum method, and soil samples were building perimeter core composites. Interior dust wipe lead data (μg/ft2) and paint lead data (mg/cm2) were also available for each of the dwelling units and included in the modeling. Results from 541 dwelling units revealed a wide range of exterior dust and soil lead levels, within and between grantees. Minimum and maximum geometric mean lead levels, by grantee, were 126 and 14,400 μg/ft2 for exterior entry dust; 325 and 4,610 μg/ft2 for street dust; and, for soil concentration, 383 and 2640 ppm. Geometric mean exterior entry dust lead concentration (1641 ppm) was almost four times as high as street dust lead concentration (431 ppm), suggesting that lead dust near housing was often a source of street dust lead. Geometric mean exterior entry dust lead loading was more than four times as high as window trough dust lead loading and more than an order of magnitude higher than interior entry dust lead loading. Statistical modeling revealed pathways from exterior entry dust lead loading to loadings on interior entryway floors, other interior floors, and windowsills. Paint lead was found to influence exterior entry dust lead. Results of this study show that housing where soil lead hazard control activities had been performed had lower postintervention exterior entry, interior entry floor, windowsills, and other floor dust loading levels. Soil was not present for almost half the buildings. Statistical analysis revealed that exterior strategy influenced soil lead concentration, and soil lead concentration influenced street dust lead loading. This study represents one of the few where an impact of soil treatments on dust lead levels within the housing has been documented and may represent the first where an impact on exterior entry dust lead has been found. The inclusion of measures to mitigate the role of exterior sources in lead hazard control programs needs consideration.

Urinary arsenic excretion as a biomarker of arsenic exposure in children

Urinary arsenic concentration has been used generally for the determination of exposure, but much concern has been raised over the most appropriate expression for urinary arsenic levels. In this study, we examined the influence of various adjustments of expressing urinary arsenic data. All children who were less than 72 mo of age and who were potty trained were invited to participate in the present study. Urine, soil, and dust samples were collected, and arsenic measurements were made. The geometric mean of speciated urinary arsenic among children who provided first-voided urine samples on 2 consecutive mornings was 8.6 microg/l (geometric standard deviation = 1.7, n = 289). Speciated urinary arsenic was related significantly to soil arsenic in bare areas (p < .0005). Use of a single urine sample versus the average of two first-voided urine samples collected on 2 consecutive mornings did not significantly alter the relationship between environmental arsenic and urinary arsenic levels. Furthermore, none of the adjustments to urinary concentration improved the strength of correlation between urinary arsenic and soil arsenic levels. Concentration adjustments may not be necessary for urinary arsenic levels obtained from young children who provide first-void samples in the morning.

Clean-up of Lead in Household Carpet and Floor Dust

Methods to remove lead-containing dust were tested on carpets from homes of children with high blood lead and on new carpets artificially contaminated in the laboratory. The household carpets could not be cleaned effectively by repetitive vacuuming with HEPA-filtered cleaners. The lead concentration in the removed dust remained about the same from the initial cleaning (1 min/m2) to the final cleaning (total cleaning time of 10 min/m2). The lead loading on the surface of the carpets often increased during cleaning because vacuuming brought lead from deeper in the carpet to the surface. Over 95% of the total dust was removed from bare wooden floors by dry vacuuming (5 min/m2). For linoleum, more than 75% was removed by vacuuming for 5 min/m2. However, little was removed in vacuuming after the initial two minutes and about 20% was removed in a final wet-washing step. HEPA-vacuuming of the laboratory-contaminated carpets revealed that two of the commercially available vacuum cleaners tested were essentially equivalent and each removed significantly more dust than a third vacuum during a total cleaning time of 10 min/m2. Cleaning for 6 min/m2 was necessary to remove more than 70% of the embedded dust by the two more efficient vacuums. Cleaning efficiencies were about the same for short pile and sculptured carpets. It was concluded that it may be more practical to replace rather than clean carpets. HEPA-vacuum cleaning of carpets was shown to increase lead dust on the surface under some conditions.

Effects of HUD-supported lead hazard control interventions in housing on children's blood lead.

The Evaluation of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program studied the effectiveness of the housing intervention performed in reducing the blood lead of children at four post-intervention times (6-months, 1-year, 2-years, and 3-years). A repeat measures analysis showed that blood lead levels declined up to three-years post-intervention. The results at each successive collection time were significantly lower than at the previous post-intervention time except for the difference between the levels at two and three years. At two-years post-intervention, geometric mean blood lead levels were approximately 37% lower than at pre-intervention. Children with pre-intervention blood lead levels as low as 10 μg/dL experienced substantial declines in blood lead levels. Previous studies have found substantial improvements only if a childs pre-intervention blood lead level was above 20 μg/dL. Individual interior lead hazard control treatments as grouped by Interior Strategy were not a significant predictor of post-intervention blood lead levels. However, children living in dwellings where exterior lead hazard control interventions were done had lower blood lead levels at one-year post-intervention than those living in dwellings without the exterior interventions (all other factors being equal), but those differences were only significant when the mean exterior paint lead loading at pre-intervention was about the 90th percentile (7.0mg/cm(2)). This observation suggests that exterior lead hazard control can be an important component of a lead hazard control plan. Children who were six to eleven months of age at pre-intervention had a significant increase in blood lead at one-year post-intervention, probably due to other exposures.

An Examination of the Relationships between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Floor Lead Loading Clearance Level for Lead-Based Paint Abatement, Surface Dust Lead by a Vacuum Collection Method, and Pediatric Blood Lead

Abstract The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and several states have established floor and window dust lead clearance levels that must be met following lead-based paint abatement. These levels are also used as action levels to determine when exposure reduction measures are needed. Data are lacking on the relationship between these levels and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) goal of having no more than 5 percent of children with blood lead levels above 10 μg/dl. Similarly, little information is available on the relationship between results using the HUD-prescribed surface wipe dust sampling method and a vacuum dust collection method utilizing a personal air sampling pump as a vacuum source, which has been used in a number of lead exposure studies. Blood lead, paint lead, and floor dust lead levels by both methods from 53 households in a mining community with lead paint sources were examined to help answer these questions. Results suggest that the HUD floor clearance level may no...

Residential dust lead loading immediately after intervention in the HUD lead hazard control grant program.

At the conclusion of most lead hazard control interventions in federally assisted housing built before 1978, a certified clearance examiner must verify that the lead hazard control work was completed as specified and that the area is safe for residents, a process referred to as clearance. This study explores the experience of 14 grantees participating in the Evaluation of the HUD Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Grant Program in passing clearance. The study also considers how preintervention lead levels (interior dust and paint), building condition/characteristics, and the scope of work influenced initial clearance dust lead loadings and clearance rates. At the initial clearance inspection, 80% of the 2682 dwellings achieved grantee-specific clearance standards on windowsills, window troughs (500 μ g/ft 2 and 800 μ g/ft 2 , respectively), and floors (80, 100, or 200 μ g/ft 2 depending on state/local regulations at the dates of clearance in the mid-1990s), with individual grantee success rates ranging from 63 to 100%. Dwellings that failed initial clearance required an average of 1.13 retests to clear. The high level of success at clearance demonstrates that following methods for work site containment, lead hazard control, and cleaning similar to those recommended in the HUD Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint in Housing is effective. The most common lead hazard control intervention was window abatement accompanied by the repair or abatement of all other deteriorated lead-based paint (56% of dwellings). An additional 5% of dwellings were fully abated, 29% had lower intensity interventions. Interventions including window replacement are recommended to reduce dust lead loading on windowsills and troughs at clearance, but lower level interventions such as full paint stabilization are just as good at reducing floor dust lead loadings. Whatever lead hazard control activities are selected, the condition of the surfaces of interest should be in good condition at clearance.

Use of a Field Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer for Environmental Exposure Assessment of a Neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt Adjacent to the Site of a Former Secondary Lead Smelter

The objectives of this study are to demonstrate for the first time the use of a field portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer (XRF) in a multi-media environmental survey and to use the survey results to determine if residual lead from a once-active secondary lead smelter in Cairo, Egypt, still posed a health risk to the residents when comparing results with US EPA standards. Results were analyzed to determine if relationships among the variables indicated that there were residual impacts of the former smelter. Samples collected inside and near a total of 194 dwellings were analyzed. The mean floor dust lead loading was 7.48 μg lead/ft2. Almost 10% of the dwellings had at least one floor dust wipe sample that exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agencys (USEPA) interior settled dust lead level of 40 μg lead/ft2. The median paint lead level was 0.04 mg lead/cm2. 17% of the dwellings had at least one interior paint sample that exceeded the USEPA standard of 1.0 mg lead/cm2. Mean soil lead concentration in the study area was 458 ppm and 91 ppm outside the study area. Four of nine composite soil samples exceeded the US EPA limit for bare soil in play areas. Lead concentrations in samples collected in locations outside the study area did not exceed the limit. The highest concentration was in the plot closest to the smelter and may represent residual impact from the former smelter. Statistically significant relationships were not detected between interior floor dust lead loading and either interior paint lead loading or exterior dust lead concentration. Thus, no significant exposure from the former smelter was indicated by these analyses. This may have resulted from the time elapsed since the closing of the smelter and/or the relatively low paint lead levels. Further study is needed in other areas of Egypt near former and active lead smelters. Elevated levels of mercury and arsenic detected in soil samples do not appear to be related to the smelter but warrant further study.

Longevity of the effectiveness of interim soil lead hazard control measures and influencing factors

A 7-year follow-up was conducted to determine factors associated with the longevity of interim soil lead hazard control measures that had been applied to housing in the Cleveland OH area. The approach involved (1) visual determination of the treatment integrity, (2) collection of information regarding 14 factors that may contribute to longevity of treatment integrity and (3) collection of one composite soil sample from treated areas with visual failure at each house and another composite sample from areas without visual failure. For the 200 houses studied, an average of 4 different soil areas were treated. For 96% of these areas, the treatments used were: (1) re-seeding, (2) mulch/wood chips and (3) gravel. Of a total of 191,034 ft(2) of treated soil areas observed, less than one-third, i.e. 59,900 ft(2) (31.3%) exhibited visual failure at the time of follow-up. Hazard control method and the presence/absence of shade were the only factors found to significantly affect visual failure rates. Of the three most commonly used control measures, the lowest visual failure rate was for re-seeding, 29.1% after a mean of 7.3 years; for non-shaded areas, which had been re-seeded, the failure rate was 22.2% compared to 35.7% for shaded areas. At 116 of the 193 houses (60%) that had both visually failed and visually non-failed treated soil areas, the geometric mean soil lead concentration was higher in the failed areas (p=0.003). The actual difference was only 13% with most levels equal to or exceeding 400 ppm. However, when compared to the US EPA limit for bare soil in other residential areas (1200 ppm) the percent equal to or exceeding the limit was much higher in the visually failed areas, 33.1%, than in areas where such failure was not observed, 22.0%.

A Community–Academic Partnership to Reduce Lead Exposure From an Elevated Roadway Demolition, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2012

Disseminating public health recommendations to community members is an important step in protecting the public’s health. We describe a community–academic partnership comprising health-based organizations, community groups, academia, and government organizations. This partnership undertook an iterative process to develop an outreach plan, educational materials, and activities to bring lead-poisoning prevention recommendations from a health impact assessment of a roadway demolition/construction project to the residents of an affected neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2012. Community partners played a key role in developing outreach and prevention activities. As a result of this project, activities among members of the partnership continue.