The Alliance for Healthy Homes is calling on Congress to
increase funding for HUD’s Healthy Homes Initiative to $20 million for
FY 2005. Funded at a level $10 million since FY 1999, HUD’s Healthy Homes
grants fund healthy homes tools and practices that can then be mainstreamed
in all housing construction, rehab, and maintenance programs.
Healthy Homes grants are awarded competitively to government
agencies, universities, and other non-profit organizations across the country
to develop, evaluate, and disseminate cost-effective tools and practices for
preventing and controlling health hazards in housing. Integrating healthy homes
principles and practices at low cost into existing maintenance, rehab, operation,
design, and construction can avoid costly mold and moisture problems and reduce
the risk of asthma and childhood lead poisoning.
The Alliance is also calling on Congress to restore the
$35 million in cuts to the Lead Hazard Reduction Program proposed in the President’s
budget. Restoration would bring lead hazard control grants back to $174 million,
including continuation of the $50 million initiative that targets cities with
the most widespread lead hazards.
Dozens of organizations have already endorsed the campaign.
To date, 19 national organizations and 48 local groups are signed on as supporters;
21 individuals have also pledged their support. To join the growing list and
to make your voice heard, please contact Ralph Scott at rscott@afhh.org.
For more information on the campaign, please visit www.afhh.org/aa/aa_hh_policy_federal_funding_hhi_campaign.htm.
Water Not the Only
Source of Lead Hazards in Washington, DC
The Alliance for Healthy Homes, in partnership with the
Lead Emergency Action for the District (LEAD), has been hard at work addressing
the large lead-in-drinking-water controversy currently raging in Washington,
DC. In late January, the Washington Post disclosed the water utility’s
discovery last summer of high lead levels in the water of thousands of homes
throughout the District. In February, an emergency health advisory was issued,
requesting all pregnant women and children under age six to refrain from drinking
unfiltered tap water.
While the Alliance recognizes that lead in drinking water
is a major problem in the District that needs to be remedied immediately, it
is also important to continue highlighting the ongoing threat of lead poisoning
from its most common source: deteriorated lead-based paint and lead dust hazards.
All sources of lead matter because each adds to the child’s
total lead exposure. But federal agencies agree that lead-based paint and lead-contaminated
dust are the foremost causes of lead exposure to US children. The reason is
that lead-based paint, which is present in 40 percent of all US housing, contains
extremely high concentrations of lead.
There is no question that the District must take steps
to control lead levels in its drinking water. At the same time, the District
must recognize that lead-based paint hazards remain the leading cause of childhood
lead poisoning in Washington, DC and give this problem the attention it deserves.
Protecting the District’s children from lead poisoning requires targeting
resources and action to reduce the most significant sources—and setting
priorities to protect children at highest risk first.
Children’s
Environmental Health Network Releases
Environmental Health Report Card
The Children’s Environmental Health Network (CEHN)
released a report card on April 5 evaluating the work of the Bush Administration
in protecting and improving children’s environmental health between 2001
and 2004. The report card looked at 16 individual categories, including air
quality, water quality, lead, and mercury, to which it gave the Administration’s
actions and efforts a numerical score. These scores were then converted into
letter grades, which were averaged into a final grade. The Administration’s
final grade is an F.
Several of the categories are important regarding environmental
hazards in children’s homes. On lead, for example, the Administration
earned a C, with a mix of positive and negative developments. On the plus side,
the Bush Administration’s EPA successfully fought a challenge to its standards
on lead in paint, dust, and soil. However, the Administration was faulted for
dropping a $50 million program to target cities with the worst lead hazards
and for not strictly enforcing a federal law that requires lead screening for
children six and younger served by Medicare.
Other categories that could have impacts on children’s
home environments include Protecting Children’s Health at the U.S. EPA
(F), Support for Children’s Health Research and Programs (F), Environmental
Public Health Tracking (C), and Politics, Science, and Policy (F).
Recent Research
Finds Dozens of Toxins in Household Air and Dust
A research study published in September 2003 found a wide-range
of toxic chemicals in the home environment, namely in household air and dust.
The study, “Phthalates, Alkylphenols, Pesticides, Polybrominated Diphenyl
Ethers, and other Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds in Indoor Air and Dust,”
took samples from 120 homes on Cape Cod, Mass., and was a part of a larger epidemiologic
study of breast cancer in the area.
Endocrine-disrupting compounds mimic or interfere with
the production and distribution of important human hormones, including estrogen,
negatively impacting reproductive health. Many of these chemicals are also known
to cause cancer or birth defects.
Conducted in part by researchers from the Silent Spring
Institute, the study analyzed air and dust samples for 89 organic chemicals
identified as endocrine-disrupters. Sources of these substances included consumer
products, plastics, detergents, widely available insect sprays and foggers,
and past application of pesticides.
The study found 52 such compounds in household air and
66 of them in dust. For over 30 of these compounds, this study was their first
documented measurement in a residential environment. The chemicals detected
included 27 pesticides, including some that have been banned for decades. Among
these pesticides were heptachlor, chlordane, lindane, and DDT.
The researchers noted that the government does not have
guidelines on the synergistic or additive effects of toxic chemicals, including
endocrine disruptors, although many of the effects of endocrine disrupters appear
to be additive and cumulative. This is often referred to as the “toxic
soup” effect.
The researchers also pointed out that indoor air, especially
in the home, has been identified as an important source of exposure to a variety
of contaminants, including pesticides and other toxic chemicals, and that household
dust is an important pathway of exposure in children who engage in frequent
hand-to-mouth behavior (also the main pathway for lead to enter a child’s
body). Concentrations of these chemicals also tend to be higher in indoor environments
than what one would find outdoors, and many endocrine-disrupters break down
very slowly in indoor environments. All of this highlights the lack of attention
historically paid to the home environment when assessing the public health effects
of a variety of chemicals.
For a copy of the full study, please contact Anna Batty
of the Silent Spring Institute at 617-332-4288 or info@silentspring.org.
You can also visit www.silentspring.org
for more information.
Hardware and Home
Improvement Stores Dispensing Dangerous Advice
Improving Kids’ Environment (IKE), an Indianapolis
non-profit focused on environmental threats to children’s health, released
a report in March detailing dangerous advice from hardware and home improvement
stores regarding painting, remodeling, and pesticide use to combat cockroaches.
Many of the stores surveyed for the report were part of regional or nationwide
chains, indicating that the findings are applicable far beyond the Indianapolis
metro area. The chains surveyed were Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware,
Menards, and Do-It-Best.
The report, “Inept But At Your Service: Can You Trust
Your Hardware Store?” documents suggestions and advice received from 39
individual stores. The report’s authors summarize that the stores consistently
demonstrated “a broad disregard for the health and safety of the stores’
customers, whether a contractor or a do-it-yourselfer.”
For example, 80 percent of paint department clerks in the
stores gave dangerous advice about removing paint from areas where children
live and play. These clerks recommended dry sanding on surfaces in homes built
in the 1920s, and even when asked whether lead-based paint might pose a danger,
53 percent of the clerks continued to offer dangerous advice. In some instances,
the authors report that “[clerks] were so poorly trained that some appeared
to be reading the lead hazard warning information and guidance for the first
time…Many others advised IKE staff to ignore the warning label.”
For a copy of the full report, please visit www.ikecoalition.org/Stores/Inept_2004.htm.
To find out how your community’s advocates can reproduce a survey and
report like this, please contact Tom Neltner of Improving Kids’ Environment
at 317-442-3973 or neltner@ikecoalition.org.
Pesticide Ban
Improves Size of Newborns, Study Shows
A new study released in March by researchers at Columbia
University shows that a recent ban on the indoor use of two common pesticides
is already paying off. Increases in the size of newborns since the ban will
have direct benefits for those children’s health, researchers say.
The study, focused on pregnant women in the Upper Manhattan
neighborhoods of Harlem and Washington Heights, measured blood and umbilical
cord levels of the pesticides chlorpyrifos and diazinon. Women with the highest
levels of the chemicals in their blood gave birth to babies who were 6.6 ounces
lighter and one-third of an inch shorter than those babies whose mothers had
no trace of the pesticides in their bloodstreams.
Researchers concluded that the ban is producing real results
for children’s health. Birth weight is a key indicator of future health
and development in children, including physical development, mental development,
and school performance. Babies with lower birth weights tend to experience more
difficulties in all three areas later on in life.
The university’s researchers now plan to track the
children in the study over many years, examining the effects of pesticide exposure
on their mental and academic development.
The study is expected soon in Environmental Health Perspectives,
which can be found online at http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/.
National Center for
Healthy Housing to Study Lead-Safe Weatherization Practices
The National Center for Healthy Housing was recently awarded
a $300,000 contract from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a subcontractor of the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), to study whether significant dust lead is left
in dwellings following federally-funded weatherization work. The project will
be carried out over the next two years in Maryland and Rhode Island, in partnership
with those states’ Weatherization Assistance Programs and local Community
Action Agencies that perform the weatherization work.
Currently, weatherization workers are expected to receive
lead-safe weatherization training and follow lead-safe work practices, but they
are generally not subject to HUD regulations pertaining to lead-based paint
hazards in federally-assisted housing. Because DOE has presumed that the suspected
level of lead dust generated by weatherization work is low, the agency does
not require its weatherization workers to follow the HUD requirements of clearance
testing except when they are in HUD-assisted housing. A committee of DOE-HUD
officials decided that this presumption needed further study.
A typical weatherization project can create lead dust hazards
because it often involves disturbing or entirely replacing windows. Windowsills
and trim are one of the most likely areas for lead paint to exist in older housing.
When this paint is severely disturbed during window repair or replacement, it
can be ground into lead-laden dust.
The DOE Weatherization Assistance Program has been in operation
for more than 25 years and has weatherized over 5 million homes of low-income
Americans. DOE delivers weatherization services to low-income households in
every county in the nation and on Native American tribal lands. Through a network
of partnerships with more than 970 local weatherization agencies, the program
improves the energy efficiency of more than 100,000 dwellings a year.
Federal Budget
Resolution Battles Continue in Congress
In March, both the House and the Senate passed FY 2005
budget resolutions. Both resolutions have direct consequences for children’s
environmental health, low-income housing, and other issues.
The Senate Budget Resolution came out less harsh than that
requested by the President. The Senate’s resolution locks in spending
caps for the next two years, and it includes a pay-as-you-go rule. This “pay-go”
rule mandates that all increases in entitlement programs like Medicaid and Social
Security be “paid for” by other spending cuts or tax increases;
at the same time, tax cuts must also be offset by closing tax loopholes or savings
in spending. The Senate resolution also calls for drastic cuts to entitlement
programs— including $11 billion from Medicaid over the next five years—but
these cuts are not binding.
The House Budget resolution calls for $138 billion in new
tax cuts over the next five years and extends the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts at
a ten-year cost of $1.1 trillion. These provisions will force drastic cuts in
spending while inflating the federal budget deficit. Another section of the
House resolution demands $2 billion in cuts from Medicaid, cutting off vital
health insurance to low-income children already suffering from a variety of
health problems, including asthma and lead poisoning.
The House leadership is also pushing two damaging budget
process rules in separate bills. The first is a fiscally irresponsible pay-as-you-go
rule that would only apply to entitlement spending increases. Under this rule,
new tax cuts would not have to be paid for through other offsets. The second
is a five-year budget cap that would severely restrict domestic spending.
Under both plans, domestic spending outside of homeland
security would be slashed by over $100 billion during the next five years. Almost
every program area would be cut, including environmental protection, children’s
health, and low-income housing assistance. By 2009, domestic programs, not including
defense and homeland security, would be at least $36 billion below their FY
2004 funding levels. This may be a conservative estimate, as the proposed caps
would apply to all discretionary spending, meaning that as funding pressures
for defense and homeland security increase, vital domestic programs will likely
face even deeper cuts.
The two resolutions are now heading for negotiation in
the FY 2005 budget resolution conference report.
For more information about the budget situation in Congress,
please visit the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities at www.cbpp.org/.
Trial Against
Lead Paint Manufacturers Rescheduled
Rhode Island’s lawsuit against the manufacturers
of lead-based paint will go to trial in April 2005, instead of this month. The
trial was rescheduled because the state plans to appeal the Superior Court’s
recent ruling requiring a jury trial. RI Attorney General Patrick Lynch had
requested a trial by judge because of the wide range of remedies sought by the
state. Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein ruled in early March that a
jury should decide the case. In addition, the case will now be consolidated
so that the all the state’s claims will be considered in one trial, instead
of in three phases, as originally begun in October 2002. The state’s appeal
on trying the case before a judge will likely be heard in early 2005. However
that is resolved, both sides say they will be ready for the April 2005 trial.
Introducing Healthy
Homes Solutions, Inc.
The National Center for Healthy Housing recently established
a subsidiary, Healthy Housing Solutions, Inc., which will function as a consulting
and government contracting firm. Solutions, which along with the National Center
is based in Columbia, Maryland, will specialize in providing technical assistance,
strategic planning, training, and policy and regulatory support relating to
residential environmental health and safety to federal, state, and local public
agencies and to private organizations.
The firm has already been engaged by several CDC-funded
CLPPP programs to help develop their comprehensive strategic plans for the elimination
of childhood lead poisoning by 2010.
The University of Maryland School of Law will
host this year's Ward, Kershaw Environmental Law Symposium with the Center for
Progressive Regulation (CPR) on April 16, 2004. This year’s Symposium
focuses on increasing attempts by government officials, interest groups, and
regulated industry to use scientific uncertainty as a means of paralyzing the
regulatory process. For more information, see the symposium brochure at www.law.umaryland.edu/conferences/cleanscience_brochure.pdf
or contact Laura Mrozek at 410-706-8157 or lmrozek@law.umaryland.edu.
On April 26 and 27, 2004, the National Low Income Housing
Coalition Annual Housing Policy Conference will be held in Washington, DC. The
conference will consist of several sessions on low-income housing as an election
issue, the National Housing Trust Fund, a workshop on healthy homes, and other
current housing issues. Details can be found at www.nlihc.org/conference.pdf,
or call 202-662-1530.
The Affordable Comfort Conference in Minneapolis will be
held April 26 to May 1, 2004, and will showcase sessions on energy efficiency,
comfort, health, and safety in home building, retrofit, and renovation. Further
information can be found at www.affordablecomfort.org/html/2004.html
or by calling Janice at 1-800-344-3866 ext. 10.
United Parents Against Lead is holding their 2004 conference
in Richmond, Virginia from April 29 to May 2. Conference events will include
a town hall meeting on lead, a training session on lead hazard control, and
dinner with Vanessa Williams, the group’s Spokesmom. Further details can
be obtained by calling Zakia Shabazz at 804-714-1618. Hotel reservations at
the Radisson Historic Richmond Hotel can be made by calling 804-644-9871; be
sure to mention the UPAL Conference for a special rate.
The Annual Indoor Environmental Health and Technologies
Conference will occur in Orlando from June 23-25, 2004. The conference will
include a variety of programs on Children’s Health, Mold Assessment and
Remediation, Healthy Homes, Lead Hazard Control, and Health Education and Outreach.
Information can be obtained at www.leadmoldconferences.com/04pdfs/2004IEHTnationalconf.pdf
or by calling 1-800-590-6522.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an
e-mail (afhh@afhh.org)
or fax (202-543-4466) with "Subscribe" or "Unsubscribe"
in the subject line. If you received this issue of the Alliance Alert via fax,
please send us your e-mail address for faster delivery and to conserve resources.
Thank you!
