Nearly a half century after the federal government banned lead-based paints in homes across the country, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to finalize tighter lead dust standards within days in an effort to eliminate toxic paint in homes built before 1978, according to agency officials. But even in some of the communities whose children face the highest risk for lead exposure, officials worry whether they can accomplish that goal.
The EPA estimates that more than a third of all housing units in the country — 31 million — still contain lead-based paint that was applied before the ban, and 3.8 million of them have one or more children under the age of 6 living there.