Preventing Exposure to Lead

If your house was built before 1978, there is a very good chance that it contains lead-based paint. Lead-based paint can be found on both the interior and exterior of the home. When lead-based paint is in good, sound condition it is not a hazard. Lead paint only becomes a problem when it starts breaking down, flaking, or deteriorating.

There are many things you can you do to prevent exposure and ingestion of lead-based paint and dust.

For housing built before 1978, it should be assumed that any paint has lead in it unless tests prove that it is lead-free.

The two most common types of lead testing are lead inspections and risk assessments:

Lead Inspection is a surface-by-surface investigation to determine if there is lead-based paint in the house and where it is located. A lead inspection does not identify active lead hazards, but simply the presence of lead. This type of inspection is more useful prior to purchasing or renovating a home and for identifying potential sources of a child’s lead exposure.

Risk Assessment is an investigation to determine the presence, type, severity, and location of lead-based paint hazards. Environmental samples, which are samples of dust, water, and soil, may be taken as part of a risk assessment and processed at a lab. This type of inspection is more helpful in determining sources of a child’s current lead exposure. It can also assist in identifying steps that can be taken to reduce exposure.

For more information on lead inspections versus risk assessments, please visit the EPA’s website.

If you’d like to hire a lead inspector or risk assessor to come and test the paint in your home, the EPA maintains a database of certified local firms in your area.

The cost of a Lead Inspection or Risk Assessment can range from approximately $600-$1500, depending on the size of the home and what the inspection includes. This number can vary greatly depending on the services performed.

If your child has a confirmed blood lead levels of 5 µg/dl or above, the ACHD can perform a risk assessment for free. Call the Housing Division at 412-350-4046 for more information.

Properly maintaining your home can make a big difference in how much lead a child is exposed to at home.

• Do regular checks of your home for any peeling, chipping, cracking, flaking, or deteriorated paint.
• If you find paint that is not in good condition, that paint must be properly repaired with lead-safe practices.
• When doing repairs, remodeling, or renovating your home, please consider that:
• Making repairs to surfaces that have lead-based paint can create additional hazards if the repairs are not done correctly. Repairs that create even a small amount of lead dust are enough to poison your child and put your family at risk.
• If you are a do-it-yourselfer, please visit the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Program: Do-It-Yourselfers webpage, which provides information about performing home renovations safely.
• If you do not plan on doing the repairs yourself, hire an EPA certified renovator or contractor. Click here for the EPA database of certified lead renovators and/or contractors.
• Children and pregnant women should not be present in a pre-1978 house during any renovation.

Make sure your child does not have access to areas with deteriorating or flaking paint.

Create barriers between living/play areas and lead sources wherever possible.

Make sure that your child’s main play area is not under old windows or near doors. Windows can create a lot of lead dust. Each time a window is opened or closed, the edges of the window can rub on the frame and create dust. This is one of the greatest sources of lead dust in many older homes. Doors create lead dust too if the edge of the door rubs on the door frame when it is opened and closed. Window frames and doors are called friction surfaces.

You can also apply temporary barriers such as contact paper or duct tape, to cover holes in walls or to block children's access to other sources of lead.

Proper housekeeping habits can greatly reduce the amount of lead dust in your home.

• Wet wash all horizontal surfaces in the home at least once a week, focusing on the areas your child uses the most. A simple solution of soap and water is a great way to wet wash the surfaces in your home.
• Horizontal surfaces include window sills, tables, chairs, bookshelves, and any other flat surfaces, especially those within a child’s reach. Windowsills and wells can contain high levels of leaded dust. They should be kept clean.
• Do not dust or sweep using a dry rag, duster, or broom. This will just spread the lead dust around and send it up into the air. Once in the air, it will settle onto another surface.
• Wet mop your floors and make sure to dump the dirty water down the toilet, not in the sink.
• For soft horizontal surfaces like carpets and rugs, use a vacuum with a HEPA filter. The HEPA filter makes sure that the lead dust is captured in the bag instead of being exhausted back into your home. Be cautious when emptying the canister to avoid sending dust into the air.

Changing some of your and your child’s behaviors may be necessary in order to reduce exposure to lead-based paint and dust.

• Reduce your child’s hand-to-mouth behavior.
• Infants and toddlers have a tendency to put their fingers in their mouths. This is one of the main ways that small children accidentally eat lead.
• As much as possible, try to break or avoid thumb sucking habits. Try to keep your child from putting their hands in their mouth.
• Don’t allow children to put objects in their mouths.
• Certain objects, especially objects from foreign countries, can contain lead. Please see the Lead Sources page for more detail about these kinds of objects.
• Some children have a tendency to like to chew on objects. If you notice your child doing this, discourage this behavior as much as possible. Keep an eye out for evidence of further chewing, like teeth marks.
• Increase hand washing.
• Frequent handwashing, especially before eating or after playing outside, can reduce the amount of lead dust that your child is exposed to.
• Lead dust will also accumulate on objects all around your home. Wet wiping for hard objects and washing in the washing machine for soft objects should be done regularly, especially with your child’s favorite toys.

• Change the play location of your child to an area you know to be free of lead.
• If you have an area in the home that you know is lead-safe, have your children play there.
• Do not allow your child to play at playgrounds where the equipment has peeling, chipping paint.

What should I do if I am concerned about lead in my drinking water?

Check to see if there is a lead line coming into your water meter. The water meter is usually in the basement. Use a coin to scratch the pipe that comes through the wall and into the water meter. If it is shiny, hard, and orange in color, then it is likely copper. If it is gray/silver and soft, it may be lead. Find more information about identifying your pipes.

Contact your water system for more information about known lead service lines and to get your water tested.

Only use cold water directly out of the faucet for drinking or eating.

There is no issue with using your water for bathing, dish washing, or showering.

Obtain an NSF-approved water filter that removes lead.

Flush your lines by running the water for 2-3 minutes if you haven’t used the water for a few hours. When water sits in pipes that are made of lead, some of that lead can seep into the water. This is why flushing is important. If you run the water long enough, the water coming out of the tap is fresh water coming straight from the main water line (see diagram below). Drawing fresh water from the main means you are less likely to be drinking water with lead in it. Flushing is a good first step, but it is not 100% effective at removing lead. There can be times when flushing does not remove all of the lead from the water, which is why we still recommend using filters or bottled water for children and pregnant women if you know there is a chance your water contains lead.

Consider using bottled water for infant formula and as drinking water for pregnant women.

Have your service line replaced if it is confirmed to be made of lead, but only consider this step when you can have a complete replacement (the whole pipe from the water main to the water meter in your home) done. The Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) does not recommend partial lead service line replacements. Partial line replacements can increase the level of lead in the water significantly for 3-6 months after the replacement has been performed.

Partial line replacements are when only one part of the service line is replaced. The diagram below shows a typical service line set up at a single family home. The public water main is the larger pipe that brings the water from your water system. Once that pipe reaches the sidewalk outside of your home, a service line branches off to bring water to your house. The part of the service line on public property, is the responsibility of the water system. See: "Public Water Service Line” in the photo:

The part of the service line that is on your property is your responsibility.

Sometimes the water system will want to replace their side of the service line, without replacing your private side of the line. We do not recommend allowing this to happen. We encourage people to replace their lead service lines, but only when a complete replacement of both the public and private sides is being reformed.

For more information read our Partial Line Replacement Information Sheet(PDF, 58KB).

Check out our Lead Sources page for more information on where lead in soil comes from. Soil is only a potential source of lead exposure when the soil is exposed. Here are some things you can you do to prevent exposure to lead contaminated soil:

• Do not allow children to play in bare soil.
• Cover bare soil with a ground covering such as grass, mulch, rocks, or other landscaping.
• If you can’t cover the bare soil, create barriers to keep children out of those areas.
• Do not allow children to play around vacant homes or in abandoned lots.
• Take a look at the exterior of your home: is there peeling, chipping, or flaking paint? It might be lead-based paint which is falling into the soil around your home. Repairing deteriorated paint on the exterior of your home will help keep your soil from being contaminated further.

Changing some of your everyday behaviors can also help you to prevent exposure to lead in soil:

• Wash your child’s hands thoroughly after playing outside and before eating.
• Try and keep your child from putting their hands in their mouth when playing outside.
• Remove shoes when coming indoors to keep soil from being tracked around the home.
• Pets can bring a lot of soil into the home. Do your best to keep your pets clean and wipe their feet off when they come in from outside.

Below are some resources you can use to get your soil tested. Please note: these organizations are not affiliated with the Allegheny County Health Department.

• Penn State Extension
• UMass Amherst’s Soil and Plant Testing Lab

The lab you use to get your soil tested will tell you how to interpret your results. Make sure that you read any information the lab sends with your results.

For more information on lead in soil and local soil testing, check out the Grow Pittsburgh website.

Soil testing is especially important if you are planning on planting a garden and growing your own food.

If you have an unsafe level of lead in your soil and you still want to grow food, you have a few options:

• Install raised beds lined with landscape fabric and filled with soil that is known to be free of lead.
• Lead is mostly taken up into the roots and leafy parts of plants. If raised beds are not an option, there are certain plants that you can grow in lead-contaminated soil that are still okay to eat.
• These plants include things like tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, corn, cucumbers, melons, squash, and other vegetables where you do not eat the roots or leaves of the plant.
• DO NOT grow leafy vegetables like collard greens, spinach, lettuce, or kale or root vegetables like carrots, beets, potatoes, or parsnips in lead- contaminated soil.
• All food grown in your own garden should be rinsed thoroughly before eating. Lead-contaminated soil can splash up onto the food, but a good rinsing will get rid of any soil.

Here are a few more things to think about in regard to lead contamination when planting a garden:

• Try to locate your garden away from where any lead dust may accumulate, meaning away from roads and older homes.
• Do not use plants grown in lead-contaminated soils in compost to avoid adding lead back into your soil.
• Keep your soil pH close to neutral (pH 6.5-7.5). Lead is less likely to be absorbed by plants at a pH close to neutral.
• Provide your garden bed with plenty of organic matter yearly. Organic matter helps by binding to the lead, making it less likely to be taken up by the plants.
• Composts rich in phosphorous also help to lower lead uptake.

Learn more information about home gardens and lead.

Check out our Lead Sources page to see some examples of jobs and hobbies where you work with lead.

If you have a job or hobby that involves working with lead, there are special precautions that you should take so that you don’t spread lead particles around your home:

• Remove shoes and clothing before entering the living space (in a basement or mud room if possible).
• Wash work and hobby clothing separately from the rest of the family’s clothing.
• Avoid handling or touching food or your mouth and face when working with lead materials. Make sure to wash your hands very well after you are done working with lead or before you eat or smoke.
• Keep all work and hobby materials away from the living space, especially places your child might play in or around.
• Section heading: Preventing Exposure to Lead in Cosmetics, Jewelry, Toys, Candies, Ceramic Wares and Pottery, and Folk Remedies.

Certain items may contain lead when they have been imported from some foreign countries:

• Folk Remedies/Medicines
• Cosmetics
• Jewelry
• Toys
• Candies
• Ceramics

Check out our Lead Sources page for more information about these items.

It is best to avoid using traditional remedies. People selling a folk medicine may not know whether it contains lead. Unfortunately, you cannot tell if a product contains lead by just looking at it or tasting it. The only way to tell if there is lead is to have it tested at a laboratory.

If you think you or your child may have taken folk remedies that contained lead, contact your healthcare provider.

For more information on folk remedies, visit the Centers for Disease Control website.

Lead exposure from cosmetics is easily avoidable. By not using kohl and similar products on your children or yourself and keeping them out of your home, you can avoid a potential source of lead exposure. Read more about lead in cosmetics on our Lead Sources page.

For more information on lead in cosmetics, check out the FDA website.

Just wearing toy jewelry that contains lead will not cause your child to have a high level of lead in his/her blood; however, small children often chew or suck on jewelry. When lead items are mouthed or teethed, there is a high likelihood that some of the lead will be ingested. Try to keep all jewelry items out of your child’s mouth, including jewelry worn by adults.

If you have a small child in your household, make sure the child does not have access to jewelry or other items that may contain lead.

When toys with lead in them are mouthed, teethed, or chewed, lead is ingested. If you think that your child has been exposed to a toy containing lead, remove the toy immediately.

You cannot tell if a toy has lead in it by just looking at it. Only a certified laboratory can accurately test a toy for lead. Although do-it-yourself kits are available, they do not show how much lead is present and are not reliable at low levels of lead. We do not recommend DIY lead testing kits for testing toys.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has regulations that ban the use of lead in many children’s products in the United States. To reduce risks of lead exposure, the CSPC also issues recalls of toys that could potentially expose children to lead. To see the latest recalls, visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Recall Site.

For more information about lead in consumer products, visit the CPSC website.

Avoid using containers, cookware, or tableware to store or cook foods and liquids that are not shown or known to be lead free.

There are certain types of ceramic ware or pottery are more likely to contain lead. These include pottery or ceramic ware that is:

• Handmade with a crude appearance or irregular shape
• Antique
• Damaged or excessively worn
• Imported from a foreign country
• Purchased from flea markets or street vendors
• If you are unable to determine whether or not the pottery is from a reliable manufacturer
• Brightly decorated in orange, red, or yellow color, as lead is often used with these pigments to increase their intensity

For more information about ceramic wares and pottery as sources of lead, either visit our Lead Sources page or the FDA website.

Avoid eating candies imported from other countries. They have been known to contain lead. The only way to know if candy contains lead is to have it tested in a laboratory. Specifically, the FDA advises parents, care providers, and others not to allow children or pregnant women to eat candy imported from Mexico.

For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control or the Food and Drug Administration website.