How can I protect my children from the lead paint in our home?

If your home was built after 1978, it's unlikely that you have lead paint; but paint in older homes may contain the toxic substance. Toxicologist Gary Ginsberg, PhD, discusses the importance of lead-safe home remodeling projects.

Transcript

00:00

Every dose of lead is something that can affect a child's brain development. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12

To be safe with lead around the home and paint, you'll want to know what year your house was built.

00:21

If your house was built after 1978, it's very unlikely that you would have lead paint in the home.

00:27

But homes built before 1978, yes, you probably do have some leaded paint in your home.

00:34

Even if you recently repainted your house, and the surface coating is all modern paint with no lead in it,

00:41

the underneath layers are probably still lead paint. And when that flakes and chips, that gets on the floor,

00:48

turns into dust. Kids crawling around will get a dose of lead. And every dose of lead is something

00:55

that can affect a child's brain development. The number one concern is remodeling projects.

01:03

If you're knocking down a wall, if you are scraping paint off of walls, you are creating dust, and that dust

01:11

will probably have lead in it. Again, if your house was built before 1978, that will get taken up by you.

01:18

And if you're pregnant, that goes right to your baby. And if you've got crawling creatures on the floor, young toddlers, they

01:26

are going to be exposed to that lead paint. So you want to do lead-safe remodeling. There is websites from the US EPA

01:33

on how to do lead-safe remodeling projects so you don't spread the lead everywhere. [AUDIO LOGO]