Leading on lead.

• Author: Farquhar, Doug
• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS - Lead-based paint regulations - Brief article

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Minnesota is taking a unique approach to the Environmental Protection Agency's requirement that contractors and painters learn how to safely remove lead-based paint. Instead of focusing on the back end of the process--post-renovation inspections--the state is ensuring compliance at the front end--when building permits are issued.

Congress directed the EPA in 1990 to develop regulations to protect children from paint containing lead (found in most paint made before 1978) during home renovations. Children's growing bodies easily absorb it and their nervous systems are sensitive to its damaging effects, which include brain damage, slowed growth, hearing problems, hyperactivity and headaches.

To ensure that contractors comply with the regulations, the EPA created the Renovation, Repair and Painting program in 2008 and asked states to ensure that all building contractors working on pre-1978 homes or facilities for...