EPA Staff Urges More Protective Airborne Lead Standard

WASHINGTON, DC, November 2, 2007 (ENS) - Saying there is no safe level of lead in the air, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff scientists Nov. 1 recommended strengthening the air lead standard to protect the health of American children. The staff paper says the standard for airborne lead should be set at least seven times lower than the concentration allowed today.

The staff report says, "A large body of new scientific studies shows that adverse effects in young children occur at much lower blood lead levels than was understood when the current standard was set in 1978."

The staff found that there is no safe level of lead exposure below which adverse health effects may not occur. The evidence also shows associations between lead exposure and health problems in adults.

The recommendation does not change current air quality standards but it is a pivotal step in adopting a new air pollution limit for lead, which is expected to happen next year.

The EPA's new rulemaking concerning lead is required by the 2005 order of a federal judge in St. Louis in a case filed by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

The federal agency is required to issue a proposal regarding the lead standards by May 1, 2008, and to issue a final rule by September 1, 2008.

By the end of November, the EPA will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that will outline policy options the agency is considering, and invite public comment.

The agency says it is planning to issue the proposal in March 2008, to allow the public time to comment again before the May 1 deadline.

The EPA staff based their final paper on a review of current science about lead and health, and on analyses of risks at current levels of lead in the air.

IQ loss in children is the key health effect addressed in the staff paper, but the staff scientists found evidence of a variety of adverse health effects in children associated with lead, particularly on the developing nervous system.

"Estimated lead exposure and the resulting risk of IQ loss in children associated with levels allowed by the current standard are large enough to be considered important from a public health perspective," the EPA staff paper says.

"This is true not only because of the serious nature of IQ loss during childhood years, but also because of the potential long-term adverse consequences of childhood IQ effects over a lifetime," the staff says.

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment says that even at low levels, lead in children’s blood causes behavioral problems, nervous system damage and anemia as well as reduced IQs.

The EPA staff report recommends that the EPA lower the lead standards from the current level of 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3), setting a revised standard within a range that extends as high as 0.2 ug/m3 and as low as 0.05 ug/m3.

The paper also recommends that the EPA not consider revoking the lead standard, or removing lead from the list of criteria pollutants.

If the agency adopts tougher standards, it could affect operations at the Doe Run Company's lead smelter in Herculaneum, Missouri, which has sometimes failed to meet the current air standard for lead.

Also last week, a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds children with blood lead levels lower than the U.S. standard may suffer lower IQs and other problems.

It is the first time the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention has focused on the risks to children with levels of lead in their blood lower than the U.S. standard. The government advisory panel is urging doctors to be more alert to signs of lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning can cause irreversible learning disabilities and behavioral problems and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death.

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