WPRO News & The Associated Press
The nation’s top housing official is proposing lowering the level of lead that must be detected in children’s blood before triggering federal action to clean up the homes where they live.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro made the announcement Wednesday after touring Rhode Island homes where lead paint hazards were cleaned up using federal funds.
“With these rule changes, we’re truly laying a foundation to end the lead poisoning that plagues communities and steals the futures and the health of so many young people,” Castro said.
Lead exposure can cause learning disabilities in children. The proposal would reduce the level that triggers an environmental investigation of a home from 20 micrograms per deciliter of blood to five.
Castro says that after a 60-day public comment period the proposed change could affect nearly 3 million subsidized housing units built before the 1978 lead paint ban.
“The Secretary’s announcement will probably protect an additional 6,800 children every year from the scourge of lead exposure,” said U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI).
The change would align HUD limits with recommendations made in 2012 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
