Lead
Resources
Better Lead Policy
This tool shares lead poisoning primary prevention policy recommendations from experts and the lived experience of four dozen communities across the county in a way that is accessible to all community advocates. The tool includes an easy-to-follow guide to help users assess and improve current lead poisoning prevention policies in their communities or create draft policies to bring to their local governments. [url; Earthjustice, 2020]
Blueprint for Action to Prevent Lead Poisoning
This NCHH guide includes actions needed from state and local governments to protect children from lead poisoning, which impacts more than a half-million children. [pdf; NCHH, 2014]
Building Blocks for Primary Prevention – Protecting Children from Lead-Based Paint Hazards
Practitioners, advocates, and policy makers can look to this comprehensive guide for help in raising awareness, organizing the community, securing funding for abatement, and creating policies and codes to protect children from lead-based hazards in the home. [url; CDC and the Alliance for Healthy Homes, 2005]
Guidebook for Developing State and Local Lead-Based Paint Enforcement Bench Books
This guide exists to help lead poisoning prevention professionals create legal reference manuals (“bench books”) for judges adjudicating enforcement cases involving lead-based paint. Although it does not provide a listing of laws for specific jurisdictions, it shows the user how to find relevant laws and compile them into a reference manual designed to educate and increase judges’ awareness of lead-paint laws and hazards. [pdf; NCHH, 2008]
Ten Effective Strategies for Preventing Childhood Lead Poisoning Through Code Enforcement
This document outlines why lead hazard control should be incorporated in code enforcement, and provides specific strategies to reduce exposure to lead-based hazards. [doc; Alliance for Healthy Housing, available via HUD, 2002]
Tool Book for Initiating Effective Policy Change: What You Can Do in Your Community to Protect Children from Lead Poisoning
Written for local housing and health agencies, this comprehensive guide for assessing and developing policies to prevent lead poisoning provides guidance to assess the scope of the issue, model policies, and safe work practices. It’s relevant to anyone interested in combating lead poisoning. [pdf; Muskegon County Public Health Department, 2008]
State and Local Examples
CDC Lead State Programs
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides a map of state programs to show which states receive CDC lead funding; each state page includes the amount of the current award and contact information for the state program. [url; CDC]
Environmental Health Legislation Database
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) tracks environmental health legislation, sorting the introduced, adopted, and enacted bills by state, year, and topic. This resource is essential for anyone looking to identify state-level environmental health policy. [url; NCSL]
- State Lead Hazard Control Programs
This page identifies states with lead hazard control programs and RRP authorization, providing program websites and state code numbers. [url; NCSL] - Lead Hazards Project
This project includes a three-part webinar series about lead in water, a guide for states about the RRP rule, and an index of state lead statutes. [url; NCSL]
A Hidden Problem: Lead-Poisoned Children in the U.S.
The California Environmental Health Tracking Program provides an interactive map with estimates of how many children have elevated blood lead levels in each state, where those children are concentrated within each state, and how many children with elevated blood lead levels have been identified by surveillance in each state (for state that are reporting data to the CDC).
State and Local Lead Laws
Several cities have enacted exemplary prevention-oriented lead laws. They are exemplary because they prohibit lead hazards or require cleanup across the housing stock. NCHH developed summaries of seven such laws as part of a research project with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Law Research program.
State and Local Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Programs: The Impact of Federal Public Health Funding Cuts
This document was prepared by NCHH after the CDC’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (then the Healthy Homes and Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program) was nearly eliminated in FY 2012. It includes a survey of 22 state programs and nine local programs about the impact the cuts had on their resources, workload, and staffing. While funding for the program has since increased again, this serves as a reminder about the value and impact of the program’s work.
States Authorized by EPA to Administer the RRP Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorizes states, tribes, and territories to administer and enforce its Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) Rule. This page documents the states and territories that have authority.