Lead safety:

Angie Hicks, founder, Angie's List

Hicks:
Welcome to the first episode of List-en up!, the authorized Angie’s List
podcast. I’m Angie. Thanks for joining us!

You’ve probably heard the stories about lead-tainted toys imported from overseas. These items are indeed a true health hazard, but the fact remains that lead-based paint in homes poses a more widespread threat to the health of America’s children.

In fact, 400,000 children currently suffer from lead poisoning, almost exclusively from lead exposure in their homes. Even worse, too many contractors are not following basic lead safety practices on home projects. Fortunately, this problem can be controlled and that is why Angie’s List is taking the message about lead safety on the road. The Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour aims to educate homeowners, parents, and contractors about basic lead safety practices.

Tristan Schmid, your host for List-en up!, has more on this very important topic.

Schmid:
The Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour has been in the works for quite some time, ever since Janet McCabe, Executive Director of Improving Kids’ Environment — or IKE — brought her concerns about lead safety to the staff at Angie’s List magazine last winter. IKE is a non-profit advocacy coalition based in Indianapolis that’s dedicated to improving children’s health by reducing environmental threats such as lead paint in homes. Janet shared her knowledge when the Tour stopped in Indianapolis in September.

Janet McCabe:
I’m so thrilled that AL has jumped into this. When I started this job, I’d been a member of AL for many years and it occurred to me that your company is so well positioned with your dealings with the customers, the homeowners and with contractors.

Schmid:
Janet told Angie’s List magazine about a “secret shopper” program she headed up, and we then spearheaded our own investigation into lead safety practices. Paul Pogue, senior writer for the magazine, has more on the investigation.

Paul Pogue:
My name is Paul Pogue, senior writer with AL magazine and lead reporter on the investigation we did into lead paint and lead safety practices by contractors. Janet McCabe of IKE first brought this to our attention, and we started doing research based on some studies she had done about the knowledge of hardware stores regarding lead-safe practices, were the giving good advice about lead paint in their homes. She discovered that a high amount did not give safe advice. They would tell people it was okay to do things not considered safe for lead paint. We wanted to expand that investigation to include contractors who deal with lead paint, most importantly remodelers and painters. We conducted an investigation and contacted nearly 200 service providers from all across the nation and presented them with a scenario, asked them the best way to proceed in that case. 1/3

Schmid:
As we researched the topic of lead-based paint hazards and learned more about its insidious danger to children, we realized there was a real need to share what we’d learned with our members and the public.

Thus, the Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour was born. It’s stopping at more than a dozen cities, from San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

I spoke with the tour’s organizer, Josh Owens.

Josh Owens:
The Pub department was doing a publication on lead safety and decided they wanted to do a lead tour, kind of a community outreach and advocacy. Right now we’re in about 14 cities, a few more might come on, going from now until the end of October. It’s actually a great kickoff.

In most of these cities, the percent of housing stock built before 1978 is substantial. You could live in a house with lead-based paint, so it’s a great thing to have your child tested if you live in an older home. It’s good to be aware of your surroundings and most importantly if you’ll be doing renovations with contractors, to be sure they’re trained in lead safety practices. Make sure to ask before you hire them, and if they don’t know what you’re talking about or don’t seem educated in lead safe practices, you should move on to another contractor.

Schmid:
Because hiring contractors with safe lead-based paint practices is of the utmost importance to homeowners, the Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour features training on lead-safe work practices for contractors and do-it-yourselfers. I sat in on a lead-safety seminar for contractors, lead by John Alden Training Specialist for the Environmental Management Institute in Indianapolis.

From the seminar:
If you are going to end up actually doing any abatement or cleanup work, one thing you have to do is make sure the owner understands the hazards of lead.

It begins as an information thing. We want to make people aware. I’m going to talk about the dangers of lead, specifically lead-based paint, things you can and can’t do.

Schmid:
The tour also features a lead safety seminar for homeowners, who can speak with professionals such as Marion County, Indiana Lead Inspector Buddy Compton. He says you should be wary of relying on lead-testing kits found at home improvement stores.

Buddy Compton:
They sell lead testing kits, swabs that are pretty effective if it’s just surface paint. But if it’s buried, you may not catch it with these. Lead based paint is resistant to moisture, so I find it a lot in kitchens and bathrooms. And window components, especially if it’s an old window.

You can find lead paint anywhere. Bathtubs, sinks, toilets, chair rails, floors. These are some non-traditional sources that do contain lead. Lead is in these suckers; it can be in the wrapper too. They put lead in paint to give it that bright color.

Schmid:
I sat in on a conversation Janet McCabe had with a parent concerned about lead threats to her 17-month old daughter.

McCabe:1978’s the magic year for lead paint, when it was banned for use in housing. Anything built after ‘78 won’t have lead paint unless someone bought antique doors and windows or something. It’s amazing the number of products with lead. Jewelry and children’s jewelry can have lead in it. The cheap kids’ jewelry you can find at the dollar store; I’d never buy anything from a toy vending machine at a highway rest stop.

Schmid:
It’s better to be safe than sorry when dealing with these hazards, and
plenty of concerned parents came out to the Indianapolis stop of the Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour to have their children’s blood tested.

McCabe:
The only way to find out if a kid has a high lead level is to have blood tested. Some of the symptoms would be nausea, headache, irritability — and who doesn’t have that at 2 years old? The recommendation is they be tested at age 1 and age 2 because those are the most vulnerable times.

Schmid:
I even had my own blood tested, since I live in an older home with lead paint and was curious about my own lead blood levels.

I was also curious whether it was the recent lead toy scare that prompted parents to bring their children out, or if they were more concerned about lead paint in their homes. So I asked a few of them.

Natasha:
I haven’t had him tested yet and all this is going on and he has a lot of toys and puts everything in his mouth.

Anon:
I live in an apartment that’s at least 30 years old. She plays with a lot of toys from China.

Angie Barnes:
She puts everything in her mouth. The time to come out was worth the peace of mind.

Diana:
With all the publicity, just to be safe to know they don’t have lead poisoning.

Tristan: This issue hit home for Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle, whose daughter Emma was poisoned by lead dust from a remodeling job when she was two years old. He discussed his experiences at a planning meeting.

Bill I would consider myself moderately educated about the dangers of lead paint. I knew it posed a risk to kids and pregnant women. I’d been through a lead-painted house before. I’d read an article about remodeling and the effects of lead.

We’d been thru a few scares before, the kids showed no effects, so we were desensitized to it a bit. But we took Emma to the doctor and she had moderate lead poisoning.

The cruelest part of lead poisoning is it’s impossible to determine the impact, particularly the neurological impact. Every time a study comes out, they find that lead paint’s more damaging than they thought. Whether coincidentally or not, Emma’s had learning disabilities. The burden I have to carry around is whether the lead caused it.

I happen to be in a position where I can talk about these things and potentially educate people. I feel a significant obligation to do so. This is very bad stuff.

Schmid:
For more information about the Angie’s List Lead Safety Tour and to find the stops closest to you, visit us on the web at leadsafety.angieslist.com.

On the next episode of List-en up!, we’ll talk about something completely different: Etiquette, and how you as a consumer can ensure the best possible service from the people you hire — just by treating them with some R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

In the meantime, be sure to visit List-en up! at podcast.angieslist.com.

You’ve heard from us, so now we’d love to hear from you! If you have ideas for future episodes or questions you’d like answered, please email us at podcastangieslist.com.

Until next time, this is Tristan. Thanks for taking the time to List-en!