EPA Reverses Lead-Paint Protections

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has dropped a pending requirement that only certified contractors using workers trained in lead-safe practices be allowed to remodel or renovate buildings constructed before 1978, when lead paint was banned. Voluntary compliance is more cost-effective, especially in light of the decentralized nature of remodeling work, according to a May 2004 PowerPoint briefing for then-deputy-administrator Stephen Johnson, now EPA administrator. “Industry [is] overwhelmingly in favor of a voluntary approach over regulatory framework changes,” according to the briefing, which describes voluntary compliance as a “win-win situation.” However, the regulations would have prevented at least 28,000 lead-related illnesses each year, preventing $1.6 billion in medical costs and economic losses each year, according to EPA’s own analysis. “EPA has abdicated its public health responsibilities by glomming onto a voluntary program without a scintilla of evidence that their preferred ‘non-regulatory approach’ works,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which has threatened to sue for the adoption of the original regulations. More information is online at www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=493.