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NATIONAL MODEL FOR REDUCING CHILDREN’S EXPOSURE TO LEAD LAUNCHED IN BOSTON
Release Date: 10/05/2000
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, OCT. 5, 2000
NATIONAL MODEL FOR REDUCING CHILDREN’S
EXPOSURE TO LEAD LAUNCHED IN BOSTON
On Oct. 2, EPA Deputy Administrator Michael McCabe, EPA New England Administrator Mindy Lubber, the New England Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mary Lou Crane, and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino signed an agreement for Lead Safe Boston. The program, operated under the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development, is an unprecedented effort to reduce the risk of lead exposure to young children. EPA has determined that Lead Safe Boston can safely use standard landfills to dispose of lead-based paint debris removed from residential buildings. Usually, lead-based paint debris must be treated as hazardous waste, making disposal much more expensive. Since disposal costs will now be much lower, Lead Safe Boston will be able to use the savings to abate lead hazards at an additional 12 residences this year. The project will reduce the risk of lead poisoning for 25-to-30 children in the Boston neighborhoods of Dorchester and Roxbury. Boston has an estimated 153,000 households containing lead-based paint, nearly 69,500 of which are occupied by families with young children. The innovative approach to lead abatement conducted under this XL project can be implemented by any contractor nationwide. Ultimately, thousands of children across the country are expected to be protected from lead poisoning through projects like this.
R-146 ###
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