SEIRPC getting the lead out

LEE COUNTY – Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission wants to get the lead out.
Jack Swarm, SEIRPC’s Lead Hazard Reduction Program manager, made a presentation to Lee County Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning about lead in older homes in Lee, Henry, Des Moines, and Louisa counties.
He said the group is looking for 29 homes in the four-county area to undergo lead elimination under a $1.2 million grant SEIRPC received from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development with a match for the Great River Housing Trust Fund, to which the county contributes annually.
The grants provide administration, training, transportation, equipment purchases, inspections, and funds to pay contractors to remove lead-based paint.
Swarm said homeowners who are interested in the services can apply by simply calling 319-753-5107 to determine eligibility. Lead paint was outlawed in homes constructed starting in 1978, but homes built before then could expose pregnant women and children under 5 to the risks of lead poisoning.
Homes built before 1978 with either a pregnant woman or a child under 5 or both and meeting income guidelines are eligible to apply.  The income guidelines in Lee, Henry, and Des Moines would be $51,550 for a one-person household; $58,900 for a two-person household all the way up to $85,400 for a household with six or more people.
“Our goal is to find 29 homes and get the lead out of the homes or repair the lead paint so it’s not a hazard to people,” Swarm said.
“Our program will provide everything that’s needed. It will provide all the administrative costs, all the driving around, the lead inspections costs, it will pay to bring in a contractor and repair lead paint or remove it. It will pay to relocate the families while the work is being done… everything.”
Swarm said the amount of lead needed for paint to be considered lead-based is 1 milligram of lead per square centimeter of paint. He said if you took a 1/30th of an ounce lead fishing sinker and chopped it into 1000 pieces one of those pieces in a square centimeter of paint makes it lead-based paint.
“So it doesn’t take a lot” he said.
He said lead paint was popular in the early 1900s because it resisted mildew and was durable, but by the 1960s word got about the health concerns and the government moved the industry away from using lead.

Lead paint is toxic if ingested and causes developmental delays in very young children and in women it can harm developing fetuses.
“The more lead you have in your body over a period of time, the worse it is for you,” Swarm said.
Lead in the blood is measured in micrograms per deciliter. Medical professionals will start to take action at just 3.5 micrograms per deciliter. A 20-lb. child has about seven deciliters. If a child ate the one square centimeter of lead pain, they would have 1,000 micrograms if it all absorbed, which would equate to 142 micrograms per deciliter.
He said not all the lead that is consumed through paint is absorbed and about 50-60% passes through the body.
“But a small amount of lead paint can cause a really large amount of lead in your blood which is why we want to get it out of your houses,” he said.
The good news is if there are no children or pregnant women in the home, there is no threat.
“Adults and older children don’t get as much in their body because they don’t put their hands in their mouth as much,” he said.
If the lead-based paint is in good condition it also reduces the exposure, however he said any flaking that can cause lead dust in the house is a problem. He also said lead has a sweet taste to it and that’s why young children tend to chew on window sills and door handles that they can get their teeth into.
“Kids put toys in their mouth, they put their hands in their mouth. The lead-based paint on the windows and doors can create dust or chip off and kids will get that lead in their bodies because they put their hands in their mouths,” Swarm said.
He said parents should get all children tested for lead and the grant program will reimburse for costs associated with that blood test.
He said regular cleaning and eliminating paint chips is a good way to reduce exposure. He also said be extremely careful when working on a home to keep lead dust down. He said renovations of older homes are very common ways of getting lead absorption from paint and dust.