EPA is days away from releasing its updated standards for lead contamination in dust, a move that could lead to costly paint removal treatments in millions of U.S. buildings.
“We expect the final rule will be announced by the end of the week,” agency spokesperson Remmington Belford said in an email. The White House completed its review of the rule Monday, according to the Office of Management and Budget’s website.
The July 2023 proposed rule would establish a near-zero-tolerance hazard standard for detections of lead in dust, which becomes contaminated most often through degrading wall paint.
Even though the federal government banned the neurotoxic heavy metal in paint in 1978, EPA estimates 31 million homes still have lead-based paint. Approximately 3.8 million of those homes house at least one child under the age of 6 — the population at the highest risk of lower IQs, behavioral problems, decreased kidney function or other health effects due to exposure.