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Comment by dj_gitmo | Hacker News Reader

My kid took a routine test and was found to have 5.0 μg/dL, which is elevated but not alarming. The source is most likely paint chips or dust. I'm in an old building which has lead paint that was painted over. It's totally legal to just paint over the lead paint, but since the building is settling the paint on the door frames often chips off.

My landlord has been good about offering to strip in repaint the frames, but I would rather not because I feel like all of the scraping would place even more lead chips and dust in the environment. I'd rather be diligent about cleaning and have them do that strip it after we move.

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Sorry, but 5.0 μg/dL is actually pretty bad. This is the new threshold at which the CDC recommends intervention; it was dropped from 10 relatively recently.

If done right the stripping will absolutely be the right move. Cleaning will only get you so far. Your state should have licensed lead remediation contractors

Nobody wants to pay to do it right though. So they often just throw on a 3M mask, put up some air filters, and call it good enough. To do it the EPA-approved way can easily cost $10K with an unlimited ceiling.

I'm of the maybe controversial opinion that there should be a program to help residential users with the costs, because the reality is that when the costs are too high (even if for good reason) many just do it wrong, and make the contamination worse.

There's absolutely funding to do this in some areas. Cleveland's had a major remediation going on for years now because approximately everyone who lives in the city is too poor to pay for it. At the same time, most houses are much older than 1979, so nearly every house has some.

https://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/2020/08/cleveland-city-co...

Have you ever met a landlord that wants to pay to do things right?

5 μg/dL is very alarming. It is associated with an order of magnitude higher criminal behavior in later life, much higher odds of repeating a grade in school, and significantly worse 3rd and 5th grade reading and math performance. Children with this blood lead level have worse later-life outcomes than children who test with 10 μg/dL and get treatment for it.

https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20160056

Lead does have horrible effects but I have to wonder if poverty might be a confounding variable.

I have to wonder if not reading the PDF was a confounding variable in your reply.

Oh so you neglected to post a very important "Study controlled for XX" in your summary?

Given your misuse of the term confounding variable it makes sense.

I wonder if it's preferable to just replace the door frames in that situation. It's not particularly difficult or time-consuming in most cases.

They should be able to measure the amount of lead in the air after stripping to ensure it is not detectable. At least you should inquire into this.

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