Why lead is still a risk in homes built before 1978
If your home or apartment was built before 1978, there is a high likelihood it contains lead-based paint. Lead paint was banned for residential use in the United States in 1978, but millions of older homes across the New York metro area and the Poconos still have layers of it beneath newer paint jobs.
Lead doesn't go away on its own. As paint ages, it cracks, peels, and creates fine dust that settles on floors, windowsills, and in soil around the home. That dust is the most common way families are exposed — especially young children who put their hands and toys in their mouths.
The federal government requires lead-safe practices for any renovation, repair, or painting work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing. That's not a suggestion — it's the law (the EPA's Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule).
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