2Sustain

Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will delay enforcing a new lead-paint regulation until October1,2010.

The new regulation, called the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (Lead RRP Rule), requires that contractors working in older homes become certified by a government-approved trainer and follow strict safety precautions. Although RRP has been effective since April of this year, the EPA says it is now responding to concerns by the regulated community regarding difficulties experienced in obtaining the required certification and renovation worker training.

According to the EPA, the Lead RRP rule is necessary because a disturbing number of America’s children are still poisoned by lead-based paint in their homes. The EPA banned lead-based paint from housing back in 1978, but the agency estimates that it was used in more than 38 million homes before the ban went into effect.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) applauded the EPA’s decision to delay Lead RRP Rule enforcement.

“We need significantly more contractors certified than the 300,000 who have taken the training course, and we also need to make sure that affected homeowners understand the importance of hiring a certified contractor,” says NAHB Chairman Bob Jones. “EPA listened to our concerns and did the right thing.”

As I posted about previously, lead also made headlines earlier this month when the Environmental Law Foundation detected unsafe levels of it in a variety of children’s and baby foods commonly for sale in California.