Review of Studies Addressing Lead Abatement Effectiveness: Updated Edition

摘要

This report updates the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency technical report,211u001eReview of Studies Addressing Lead Abatement Effectiveness (EPA 747-R-95-006, July 211u001e1995), which summarized the results of 16 lead hazard intervention studies. The 211u001eoriginal edition presented results indicating that lead hazard interventions 211u001ecould reduce the blood-lead concentrations of exposed children. However, only a 211u001elimited variety of intervention strategies were documented in the available 211u001eliterature and a number of data 'gaps' were identified. Strategies seeking to 211u001eprevent a child from being exposed to the lead in her or his surrounding 211u001eenvironment continue to be studied and their resulting effectiveness is being 211u001ereported in the scientific literature. This updated report summarizes 19 211u001eadditional studies available in the scientific literature. In deriving the 211u001econclusions and recommendations cited in this updated report, all the available 211u001epublished data were considered. The combined review presented herein was intended 211u001eto aid in assessing the potential benefits of rule-making under the Toxic 211u001eSubstances Control Act (TSCA), Title IV, and, particularly, the Section 403 rule 211u001eon lead hazards in paint, dust, and soil. In this report, a lead hazard 211u001eintervention is defined as any non-medical activity that seeks to prevent a child 211u001efrom being exposed to the lead in his or her surrounding environment. The 211u001eliterature on lead hazard intervention efficacy focuses on impeding the hand-to-211u001emouth pathway of childhood exposure to environmental lead sources by either 211u001eabatement or interim controls. Abatement encompasses interventions that remove or 211u001epermanently cover lead-based paint or soil that contains lead. In contrast, 211u001einterim controls may include paint stabilization (removal of only deteriorated 211u001elead-based paint) or abatement of lead-containing dust, but the lead source is 211u001enot removed (e.g., intact lead-based paint or soil with elevated lead levels). 211u001eInterim controls are attractive in some cases because of their low up-front cost 211u001erelative to many abatement techniques. This report also reviews the literature on 211u001eeducational interventions.