Toxic lead still lurking in many Georgia homes

[n2doc]

Although the crisis in Flint, Mich., has caused Americans everywhere to worry about lead in their drinking water, a different kind of lead hazard looms in 24 million homes in the nation. Anyone who lives in a residence built before 1978 may be cohabiting with lead paint and lead-tainted house dust.

Of these 24 million homes with aging paint jobs and contaminated dust, one in six contains children.

Young children are more vulnerable to lead because their bodies absorb four to five times as much of the toxic metal as adults. As the Flint media storm has made clear, even low levels of lead can impair brain development, increase anti-social behavior and reduce attention span. At high levels, lead poisoning can cause coma, seizures and death.

Evidence that lead-based paint was dangerous led the federal government to ban residential use of the paint in 1978. But 40 percent of homes and apartments that Americans live in today may still contain lead paint, which can deteriorate and threaten health. The risk is even higher for especially old housing — 87 percent of houses built before 1940 have lead-based paint on walls and woodwork.

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http://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2016/05/toxic-lead-lurking-georgia-homes/

[AuntPatsy]

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