Elevated blood-lead levels in children are frequently related to home renovation, repair, and painting, or RRP, according to new findings in the January 30 "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest information updates a 1997 analysis of children's blood-lead levels (BLL) in New York State with new data gleaned from investigations conducted in 2006-2007. (Since 1993, New York regulations have required BLL testing for all children at ages 1 and 2.)

For young children with a BLL at or above 20 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dl), local health departments must investigate the source of the lead exposure and recommend action, as per federal guidelines. This includes questioning about activities that might have disturbed lead-based paint, including RRP work.

Between 1993-1994 and 2006-2007, the percentage of children with elevated BLLs related to RRP more than doubled, to 14 percent, according to the report. Children in urban areas (not including New York City) were most affected by activities like scraping and/or sanding and removal of painted materials or structures.

Moreover, in 2006-2007, in homes where children had an elevated BLL from RRP activities, the person who did the work was a resident owner/tenant 66 percent of the time. But only 6.5 percent of the children with an elevated BLL related to home-renovation work lived in a home where a contractor performed the work.

(In an effort to prevent lead contamination, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ruling will require builders, painters, plumbers, electricians, and other professionals performing projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child-care facilities, and schools built before 1978 to be certified and to follow specific work practices, effective April 2010.)

While a BLL of 20 µg/dl in children under 6 is the threshold for action, the CDC warns that no threshold in young children is safe. "We need continued efforts, continued pressure, if we're going to fully address this [problem]," said Mary Jean Brown, chief of the CDC's lead-poisoning-prevention branch.—Ed Perratore

Essential information: Read about lead test kits and how to check for lead in your home, including analysis by XRF. Before you undertake a project on a home built before 1978 or where you're concerned about the presence of lead paint, take these precautions.