The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week announced it will start a lead inspection sweep in Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford counties in Connecticut beginning this month.
Those counties were identified as areas with a higher risk of lead paint exposure due to older housing stock, high rates of renter occupied housing and many households with incomes below the poverty level. Existing data show elevated blood lead levels in children living there.
The federal government banned consumer uses of lead-based paint in 1978, but homes built before then are very likely to contain lead paint. Children are more vulnerable to its effects, which include damage to the brain and nervous system.
Inspectors with the EPA, as well as state and local health officials, will check compliance with federal regulations at renovation job sites involving housing and child care facilities built before 1978.
Field staff will also be checking that landlords are providing prospective tenants with proper, federally mandated disclosure about the presence of lead-based paint.
The EPA anticipates it will pursue enforcement actions, if necessary.
