As Recalls Multiply,
CPSC Claims It Will “Ban” Lead in Children’s Products
In mid-August, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)
announced that it will “ban” lead in children’s products,
including toys, jewelry, and lunch boxes. The CPSC’s pledge came in response
to a series of high-profile toy recalls involving lead-based paint. After the
announcement, Mattel, Inc., the world’s largest toy company, recalled
nearly one million more toys because of the use of lead-based paint.
Lead in children’s products has been a problem for
decades. Back in the 1990s, CPSC said that it was working with manufacturers
to phase out the use of lead in toys, including the use of lead-based paint.
However, the CPSC lead phase-out has been voluntary, and rules about lead in
toys and other children’s products have been criticized as weak. At the
present time, CPSC has no formal rule banning lead in children’s toys.
The spate of recalls over the summer and early fall months
illustrates two problems. The first one is a trade problem, given that the United
States has not taken a strict product safety position with countries that export
children’s products to the U.S., especially China. All the toys involved
in the summer and fall recalls were manufactured in China.
The second problem deals with CPSC itself. The agency has
gone many months without a chairperson, and President Bush’s one nominee
to the position, former National Association of Manufacturers executive Michael
Baroody, was withdrawn due to his extreme anti-consumer safety positions. The
lack of a chairperson also means that CPSC has been without its third commissioner
and thus technically without quorum. Though Congress recently extended CPSC’s
ability to operate without a quorum for another six months, understaffing at
CPSC remains a chronic problem. On top of this, the Bush Administration has
consistently underfunded CPSC.
To remedy these problems, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced
S. 2045 in mid-September. Pryor’s bill would directly ban lead in all
children’s products and would require testing of every toy import. The
bill would also increase the number of CPSC commissioners to five, would permanently
solve the quorum problem, and would provide more funding and staff.
FEMA
Says Katrina Trailer Residents Can Now Move to Hotels
In a 180-degree turnabout, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) made public a new policy that will allow Hurricane Katrina evacuees
to move their families to hotels and motels if the residents are concerned about
levels of formaldehyde in their trailers.
The policy shift will allow up to 60,000 families to move
into safer temporary home environments than are found in the FEMA trailers.
The decision came after a July Congressional hearing in which the agency was
accused of neglecting the health and safety of trailer residents. Evidence showed
that FEMA knew of dangerous concentrations of formaldehyde gas, a carcinogen,
in the trailers but did nothing, even after one resident died of acute exposure
to the poison. Instead, FEMA covered up the unhealthy conditions and sought
ways to minimize its legal liability.
Groups File
Petition Urging EPA, CPSC to Regulate Air Fresheners
The Alliance for Healthy Homes, the National Center for
Healthy Housing, the Sierra Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) filed a petition in September urging the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to more strictly
regulate the chemicals in air fresheners sold throughout the country. The petition
accompanied a recent NRDC study that found a variety of suspect chemicals in
common air freshener products.
The groups noted in their petition that while air fresheners
are billed as “safe,” many contain dangerous chemicals, including
benzene and formaldehyde, both of which are known human carcinogens and potent
respiratory irritants. These and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) regularly
escape air freshener products or are sprayed directly into the air, contaminating
the home environment. VOCs can cause a variety of health problems, including
asthma attacks, sore throat, and severe headache. VOCs can also build up to
high concentrations in the home, because ultraviolet rays from the sun are not
available to break the chemicals down, nor is there wind to disperse them.
Many of the air fresheners tested in the NRDC study were
also found to contain phthalates, including those labeled “all natural.”
Phthalates are chemicals normally used to soften plastics and are suspected
endocrine disruptors, meaning they may wreak havoc with human hormones and impact
the thyroid. Due to their ability to mimic estrogen, phthalates may also disrupt
the human reproductive system, and at least one study has implicated the chemicals
in genital deformities in baby boys.
CPSC indicated in late September that it had received the
petition and was “taking it seriously.” At press time, EPA had not
acknowledged that it received the petition.
Senate
Slightly Cuts Funding for Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control Program
On September 12, the U.S. Senate approved the Transportation-HUD
appropriations bill for FY 2008. It included $151 million for HUD's lead hazard
control and healthy homes programs, including $8.8 million for the Healthy Homes
Initiative, $48 million for the demonstration program (high-needs areas), and
$2 million for the "Big Buy" (paying for lead inspections of project-based,
federally subsidized rental housing properties).
The House previously approved only $130 million for FY
2008. The House and Senate bills will go to conference to be reconciled later.
Even if the larger amount is ultimately approved, it will be slightly less than
the FY 2007 appropriation of $152 million.
District
of Columbia Seeks to Hold Landlords Accountable in Lead Paint Suits, Criminal
Complaint
In mid-August, District of Columbia Attorney General Linda
Singer filed a dozen lawsuits against rental property owners who failed to clean
up lead-based paint hazards in their properties after being told to do so by
the city. The hazards, already responsible for elevated blood lead levels of
a number of DC children, continue to pose a risk to any child who lives in or
visits the properties.
Since the filings began in June, Singer says that two landlords
have cleaned up their properties and controlled the lead hazards there. However,
she said that up to 20 additional landlords may be next on the list of those
against whom the District will bring suits.
Lead hazards aren’t the only health and housing problems
that DC officials are tackling. In September, Singer slapped a DC property owner
with a whopping 2,861 housing code violations for conditions that she described
as “atrocious” and “unsafe in every way.” The 22-unit
building, in which the violations continue to occur, is riddled with rotted
floors, caved-in ceilings, rampant rodent infestations, peeling lead paint,
and, in one unit, a complete lack of bathroom facilities.
The owner, David Cormier, is alleged to have ignored these
and other health and safety problems, despite repeated attempts by DC officials
to get him to remedy the issues. Given the extreme nature of the ongoing code
violations, the case against Cormier is a criminal one, rather than a civil
suit.
Rhode
Island Proposes Massive Lead Abatement Project in Remedy Phase of Trial Against
Former Lead Pigment Makers
Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch proposed a
massive $2.4 billion lead abatement plan in mid-September as the proposed remedy
in the historic trial against former lead pigment manufacturers. The State prevailed
against three paint companies in February 2006 when a jury found that the companies
had contributed to a public nuisance in the manufacture and sale of a product
the industry knew to be hazardous to human health.
Lynch said the state wants the companies to remove lead-based
paint from more than half the homes in the state, more than 250,000 permanent
and seasonal housing units. The abatement plan, which would be carried out over
a four-year timeframe, would create an important precedent, and other states
and companies are watching closely. The project could employ up to 10,000 workers.
The defendants in the case immediately asked Superior Court
Judge Michael Silverstein to seal and then reject the clean up plan. The companies,
which have never come forward voluntarily to assist federal, state, and local
governments to rid homes of lead hazards created by their products, called the
plan “ridiculous” and “unworkable.” They failed to acknowledge
that the problem never would have existed had they not sold their dangerous
products throughout most of the 20th century. The companies continue to blame
property owners for the entire problem and complain that the Rhode Island plan
would reward negligent landlords who have failed to clean up their properties.
Chicago
Launches Public-Private Partnership to Protect Children from Lead
A new program to reduce childhood lead poisoning in Chicago
will make more than $12 million available to replace windows and address other
lead hazards in approximately 2,000 affordable rental units or apartments over
the next two years.
While lead poisoning in Chicago has fallen dramatically
in recent years, Illinois leads the nation in the number of children identified
as lead poisoned, and it is estimated that more than 81,000 children in Illinois
are harmed by lead each year. Most children with elevated levels of lead in
their blood are poisoned in their own homes when they ingest dust from deteriorating
lead paint on windows, doors and porches. In Chicago alone, approximately 88,000
units of lead-contaminated housing are at risk for poisoning children.
The unique program combines a $6 million grant from the
City of Chicago Department of Public Health with $6 million private capital
raised by Delta Redevelopment Funds through federal New Market Tax Credits Program
from lenders and investors including Fifth Third Bank, LaSalle Bank, Harris
N.A., Cole Taylor Bank and The Private Bank. The City funds originated from
HUD grants.
Qualifying landlords will be able to borrow the required
funds for approved lead abatement work, but once half the loan plus interest
has been paid back, the other half will be forgiven.
The program will be available to buildings with four or
more units that offer affordable rents as defined by HUD. The building must
also have a confirmed lead hazard, although it is not necessary to identify
hazards before applying to the program.
Increased funding for lead abatement is just one of the
many recommendations recently issued by the Lead Safe Housing Advisory Council,
a legislatively established council which makes recommendation to the Governor
and General Assembly on lead poisoning prevention programs. The Advisory Council
is co-chaired by Anita Weinberg of Lead Safe Illinois and Loyola University
of Chicago’s ChildLaw Center, and Gary Flentge of the Illinois Department
of Public Health.
New
Papers Analyze How Housing and Health Interact
The Center for Housing Policy and Enterprise Community
Partners have produced a series of papers that collect and analyze "available
research evidence that frames the many ways in which our homes and the neighborhoods
where we live may affect health and educational outcomes. Some of these connections
have been well-documented through years of rigorous study, while others need
further examination."
Outline of promising hypotheses on how decent, stable,
and affordable housing may contribute to health and education outcomes: www.nhc.org/pdf/chp_int_facts0707.pdf
For more information on the papers,
contact Center for Housing Policy Communications Director Michele Anapol at
manapol@nhc.org.
Brown
University Study Links Mold and Excessive Dampness with Depression
Setting out to debunk several studies from the United Kingdom
that linked household mold with depression, a Brown University epidemiologist
and his colleagues conducted research in the United States. The scientists admit
that the results surprised them—they found a significant association between
mold and excessive dampness in the home and depression.
The researchers warned that their study does not prove
that mold and excessive moisture cause depression. However, the two conditions
are linked by a strong enough association to warrant attention, the study says.
The scientists theorize that two factors may link mold and excessive moisture
with depression. First, those living in homes where mold growth is rampant may
feel a lack of control over their living environment. Second, health effects
of mold, including wheezing, coughing, fatigue, and worsened asthma symptoms,
may cause some residents to become depressed.
The researchers are now conducting additional research,
looking to see if mold exposure does, in fact, cause depression.
HUD
Announces FY07 Lead and Healthy Homes Grantees
In early September, HUD awarded nearly $143 million in
grants to dozens of state and local communities, public health organizations,
and scientific research institutions to help protect children and families from
dangerous lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards. The funding
announced today is expected to reduce or eliminate lead exposure in more than
10,500 homes nationally and reduce levels of allergy-inducing substances in
more than 780 homes.
Alliance
Continues Healthy Rebuilding Training on Mississippi Gulf Coast
On October 25 and 26, the Alliance for Healthy Homes and
the Mississippi Interfaith Disaster Task Force will sponsor two workshops to
teach techniques for affordable, healthy, and safe rebuilding of hurricane-damaged
homes, including strategies for making rebuilt homes more wind-resistant, better
able to survive water intrusion, and more energy efficient. Principal trainer
Dennis Livingston has more than 25 years of experience designing and delivering
worker training in renovation, weatherization, and remediation of lead hazards,
and other healthy housing practices. The workshops are funded in part by the
Home Depot Foundation.
One workshop will be offered on Thursday, October 25, from
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for case managers who provide assistance to homeowners working
to rebuild. Another workshop on Friday, October 26, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is
designed for contractors, housing developers, maintenance staff, volunteers,
and others who actually do work on homes.
The workshops will be held at DeMiller Hall, Church of
the Redeemer, 610 Water Street, Biloxi, MS. To register or for more information,
please call or e-mail Farlene Bowman, Mississippi Interfaith Disaster Task Force,
at 228-432-9310 or farlene@msidtf.org.
Angie’s
List Hits the Road with 20 City Lead Awareness Tour
Indianapolis-based Angie’s List, the national consumer
organization that helps homeowners find painters, remodelers and many other
types of service providers, will be taking a lead safety show on the road to
twenty cities, including Indianapolis, in September and October.
Inspired by Improving Kids Environment’s (IKE) Secret
Shopper program, which tested the advice given to homeowners by hardware and
paint stores, Angie’s List contacted nearly 200 remodelers, painters and
other companies whose work disturbs paint. In response to first general, then
specific, questions about the risks of lead-based paint, nearly one-third of
the companies gave dangerous advice. These results spurred the company to offer
free Lead-Safe Work Practices training to contractors as well as advice to homeowners.
Angie’s List will be partnering with local health
departments and other groups in each city to provide the training, blood lead
testing for children and lead testing for toys and other products. More information
about the tour is available at http://leadsafety.angieslist.com/.
October
21-27 Is National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
Continuing a decade-old practice, Senators Jack Reed (D-RI)
and Susan Collins (R-ME) are asking their U.S. Senate colleagues sign a resolution
declaring the last full week in October National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
Week. State and local governments, policymakers, and lead poisoning prevention
advocates can help highlight successes, call attention to challenges that still
remain, and advance primary prevention. Examples of past events from across
the country and sample outreach and education materials are available on the
Alliance’s website at www.afhh.org/res/res_by_topic_lead_outreach_education.htm.
Additional activities and resources are suggested at www.montana.edu/wwwcxair/October_Lead.htm.
Upcoming Conferences
EPA is hosting a free Pesticide Worker Safety and Health
Conference, October 2-4, in Arlington, VA. The conference will provide information
to federal and state agencies and private sector organizations involved in pesticide
worker safety and health programs, policies, and research initiatives and highlight
the accomplishments of the Agency's worker protection initiatives in partnership.
To preregister for the conference and obtain the draft agenda, visit www.epameetings.com/meeting_details.cfm?meetid=19.
Enterprise Community Partners and the Alliance for Healthy
Homes are sponsoring a webinar on protecting residents from radon on Thursday,
October 4, 2007, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The live online event, titled “Radon
- Protecting Occupants is Easier than You May Think,” will explore how
housing and community development organizations, other developers and builders,
and housing agencies can protect the occupants of homes that they build and
rehab by testing for radon, fixing homes that have high levels of radon, and
using radon-resistant new construction design, a core element of effective green
building design. For more information, visit www.enterprisecommunity.org/training_and_events/live_online_events/.
The Lead and Environmental Hazards Association's National
Mid-Year Conference on Eliminating Childhood Lead Poisoning, Implementing Healthy
Homes Programs, and Combating Indoor Environmental Hazards will be held October
4-5 in Philadelphia. This is an educational and networking conference for public
officials, program administrators, lead industry practitioners, environmental
consultants and contractors, facility operators, health educators and community
advocates. For more information, visit www.leadmoldconferences.com/events/
or call 1-800-590-6522.
The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit of Region
3 and the Mid-Atlantic Center for Children's Health and the Environment will
hold the 5th Annual Conference on Children's Health and the Environment on October
6 in Reston, VA. The conference is targeted to health care providers, public
health professionals, and the general public. Topics will explore the intersection
between the environment and child health. For more information, see www.gwu.edu/~macche/restonconference07/
or call 1-866-MACCHE1.
North Carolina's 9th Annual Community-Based Environmental
Justice Summit will be held October 19-20 at the Historic Franklinton Center
at Bricks, Edgecombe County, NC. Community members, government officials, environmentalists,
students, and researchers will participate. The Summit seeks to raise public
awareness about environmental justice; connect communities in need with technical
resources; support and encourage community-driven research; help communities
and policy makers address problems of environmental injustice; and bring about
positive changes in public health and the environment by promoting social and
environmental justice. For more information, contact Steve Wing at steve_wing@unc.edu.
The 2007 Indiana Lead Safe and Healthy Homes Conference
will be held October 29-30 in Indianapolis. The program includes sessions on
asthma and best practices for healthy childcare. Key speakers include State
Health Commissioner Judy Monroe, MD; Daniel Symonik of the Minnesota Childhood
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program; and Michael McGeehin of the CDC. Visit www.ikecoalition.org
for more information.
Registration is now open for the November 6, 2007, workshop,
“Wise Ways to Get the Integrated Pest Management Service You Want.”
At this one-day workshop, you'll learn how to hire and work with a structural
pest management provider to get the kind of service that will help you reduce
both pest complaints and pesticide use. The workshop will be held 8:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m. at Nile Hall, Preservation Park, Oakland, CA. The workshop leader
is Dr. Albert Greene of the federal General Services Administration, who has
more than 20 years experience implementing integrated pest management at public
agencies. To register, visit www.ecowisecertified.org/workshop.
The National Conference on Legal Remedies: How States,
Municipalities and Public Interest Groups Can Combat Childhood Lead Poisoning
through Legislation, Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement will be held November
29-30 in Baltimore, MD. The conference is structured around a combination of
plenary sessions and breakout sessions. In the plenary sessions, various subject
areas will be introduced and information on the subjects presented. Each subject
area will then be addressed in greater detail in a breakout session, giving
attendees the opportunity to further explore how to pursue that particular remedy.
For more information, see www.leadmoldconferences.com/events/.
