EPA to Cut Funding to Lead Based Paint Testing, Endangering Children
Donald Trump’s cuts to the EPA’s budget may directly impact your children or a child you know. The cuts remove money directly from the programs that train, promote, and enforce penalties dealing with lead based paint. The effects of lead based paint on children can be devastating and irreversable.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to slash funding for programs that protect children from dangerous lead exposure. The move would eliminate programs that raise public awareness about the toxic metal’s risks and train workers on how to safely remove lead-based paint.
The EPA’s proposed cuts were revealed in a budget memo published by the Washington Post. That memo outlines funding cuts for two lead-based paint programs totaling more than $16 million and the elimination of six dozen full-time employees.
Lead-based paint, including lead-contaminated dust, is one of the most common causes of lead poisoning, according to the EPA. A 2011 national housing survey estimated that more than a third of housing units across the nation (37 million of 106 million units) contain lead-based paint, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Research has shown that the neurotoxic effects of lead on a child’s developing brain can be devastating and irreversible. An estimated 2.6 percent of preschool children in the U.S. have a blood lead concentration greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter, the level at which the federal government recommends public health intervention.
Elevated blood lead levels can lead to increased aggression, lack of impulse control, hyperactivity, inability to focus, inattention, and delinquent behaviors. A growing body of evidence has also shown that low blood lead levels are associated with multiple issues such as lowered IQ levels, attention-related behaviors and poor academic achievement.
These changes align with orders from the Trump Administration that the EPA significantly reduce its budget by 31 percent. The agency plans to lay off a quarter of its employees and eliminate more than 50 programs.
The EPA’s lead-based paint program changes include cutting $2.56 million and about 73 full-time equivalent employees from its Lead Risk Reduction Program. That program certifies renovators who remodel housing that might contain lead-based paint, and also educates the public on how to minimize residential lead exposure, according to the Washington Post.
The EPA has also proposed slashing a $14.05 million program that provides grants to state and tribal jurisdictions that tackle lead-based paint risks. In the memo, the EPA states that the “funding for this mature program is eliminated, returning the responsibility for funding to state.”
“This is a sad day for the children of the U.S.,” said Professor Howard Mielke of Tulane University’s School of Medicine, who is one of the nation’s leading experts on lead soil contamination. In an email to ThinkProgress, Mielke said “the EPA lead funding cuts dissolve the responsibility of the federal agency from having to set up any kind of national program that reduces lead exposure.”
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
