Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 13.2
Regulatory and Public Policy History of Lead-Based Paint and Lead
Contamination of Building Environments
Year
Actions
1955
Paint manufacturers voluntarily reduce lead content in interior paints.
1956-1970
Cities begin to develop childhood lead screening programs.
1971
Congress enacts Lead-based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (LBPPPA):
authorized (1) prohibition of LBP in federally financed housing, (2)
mass screening programs, and (3) investigations of EBLs.
1972
HUD promulgates regulations prohibiting use of LBP in public housing.
1973
LBPPPA amended: lowers permissible lead to 0.5%; requires HUD to
eliminate lead hazards in pre-1950 public housing.
1976
LBPPPA amended: HUD required to eliminate LBP hazards; lead
content in paint limited to 0.06%.
1978
CPSC banned sale of LBP with content >0.06%.
1987
LBPPPA amended: intact paint described as immediate hazard;
inspection of random sample of pre-1978 public housing by 1994;
abatement of LBP hazards in public housing.
1992
HUD publishes interim guidelines for identification and control of LBP
hazards; Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X)
enacted by Congress: focuses on lead-based paint hazards, training
requirements for professionals, grants special authorities to USEPA.
1995
HUD publishes guidelines document on identification and control of
lead hazards
1996
USEPA promulgates rules describing accreditation requirements for
lead professionals; disclosure of known LBP hazards in real-estate
transactions.
sion (CPSC) determined that a higher level was safe. CPSC concluded at that
time that 0.5% lead in paint was safe.
Under the 1973 amendments, HUD was required to eliminate, to the
extent that was practical, LBP hazards in pre-1950 public housing, subsidized
housing, and houses covered by Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
mortgage insurance. Regulations to achieve the congressionally mandated
requirements were promulgated in 1976.
Amendments to the LBPPPA of 1976 again limited paint lead content to
0.06% unless CPSC determined that a higher level not exceeding 0.5% was
safe. This time, CPSC declined to make such a finding. As a consequence,
after June 1977, any paint that had a lead content above 0.06% was considered
to be LBP. The CPSC in 1978 banned the sale of all LBPs (>0.06% Pb) to
consumers, and the use of LBP in residences and other areas where consum-
ers and their families may have direct access to it. This ban did not apply
to paint products used on bridges and industrial building materials.
Under the 1973 LBPPPA amendments and its 1976 rules, HUD was
required to eliminate LBP hazards in pre-1950 public and public-financed
housing. It focused its abatement activities on deteriorated paint, which it
considered an immediate hazard. It was challenged in federal court to define
