Permissible Level of Lead in Air
- POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about airborne lead contamination levels & standards
Airborne lead emission or level standards:
This article describes the current and historical limits on airborne lead exposure.
Links to Lead Testing Services are also provided. 1.5 mg/M3 - Prior airborne lead exposure limit (ca 1978): 1.5 micrograms of airborne lead per cubic meter of air.
InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.
- Daniel Friedman, Publisher/Editor/Author - See WHO ARE WE?
Airborne Lead Emissions in the U.S. - history of permissible levels
- 0.15 mg/M3 - October 2008: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new standards setting airborne lead particle exposure limits at 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air. -- New York Times [REFERENCES].
The Times article pointed out that cleanup for areas that exceed this standard is not required for more than eight years and that current airborne lead monitoring systems are "frayed" (133 monitors in operation compared with 800 monitors for airborne lead in 1980).
The Times added that advisers recommended an outer limit for exposure of 0.2 mg/L. The origial news release concerning the new EPA Standard for airborne lead was issued by the Associated Press.- http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/preleaseindex.html
"The EPA acted after a lawsuit brought by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment led a federal court in 2004 to order a review of the lead standard." - MSNBC [REFERENCES]
"EPA estimates that 18 counties in a dozen states across the country will violate the new standard, requiring state and local governments to find ways to further reduce lead emissions from smelters, metal mines and other sources." - USA Today also at [REFERENCES] - 1.5 mg/M3 - Prior airborne lead exposure limit (ca 1978): 1.5 micrograms of airborne lead per cubic meter of air
Sources of Airborne Lead Contamination
- Historically a large source of airborne lead was from burning of leaded gasoline (now prohibited) from vehicles that used (petrol) gasoline containing alkyl lead. - Castellino/Sannolo.
- Recycling/waste management industry: smelting processes to recycle automotive batteries according to 10/08 news reports .
- Possibly resuspension of soils from along highways according to Younget als. and also Castellino/Sannolo, particularly for lead from automobiles that settled as larger particles within the first 15 feet of highway borders, but significantly, also lead settling as smaller particles within 100 feet of the highway borders.
Lead from this source, particularly the second source, may also have entered certain crops later ingested by humans or animals, thus entering the food chain. - Lead in certain soil sediments (pelagic abyssal sediments Castellino/Sannolo)
- Lead-based paint products used on buildings may have been an intermittent source of airborne lead (during renovations and paint stripping) as well as soil contamination by lead (during paint stripping or remodeling).
Note that this list focuses on airborne lead sources, not on all lead sources which may affect humans or animals.
Watch out for environmental testing and cleanup that are not performed by qualified experts. Details & examples of what can go wrong are
at ASBESTOS REMOVAL, Amateur, Incomplete.
...
Continue reading at LEAD POISONING SYMPTOMS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.
Or see these
Recommended Articles
- LEAD POISONING HAZARDS GUIDE - home
- LEAD in AIR, EMISSIONS STANDARDS
- LEAD BASED PAINT-USES in BUILDINGS
- LEAD in the BODY
- LEAD CONTAMINATION HAZARDS in the HOME
- WHAT TO DO ABOUT LEAD in the HOME
- LEAD CONTAMINATION in WATER, HOW to TEST
- LEAD IN DRINKING WATER, HOW to REDUCE
- LEAD EXPOSURE HAZARDS INDOORS
- LEAD in FLOORING PRODUCTS & POLISHES
- LEAD HAZARDS & FEAR: ENVIRO-SCARE
- LEAD HAZARDS in REMODELING
- LEAD INFORMATION, US GOVERNMENT
- LEAD PIPES in BUILDINGS
- LEAD POISONING EMERGENCY HELP NUMBERS
- LEAD POISONING SYMPTOMS
- LEAD ROOFING & FLASHING
- LEAD TESTS for the FAMILY
- LEAD TESTS for the HOME
- LEAD TEST KIT for HOME US
Suggested citation for this web page
LEAD in AIR, EMISSIONS STANDARDSat InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.
Or see this
INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING ENVIRONMENT
Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia
Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia
Share this article:Search the InspectApedia website
Need to make a private comment? Email editor@inspectApedia.com. We welcome email with your website content critique, corrections, suggestions or questions. Email is monitored daily but our workload may prevent an immediate reply. For immediate results, we hope you'll first try asking your question using the search box just above.
Citations & References
In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.
- Fergusson, Jack E., and Robyn J. Schroeder. "Lead in house dust of Christchurch, New Zealand: sampling, levels and sources." Science of the total environment 46.1 (1985): 61-72.
- "Sources, Properties, Fate of Airborne Lead," N. Sannolo, G. Carelli, G. DeLorenzo, N. Castellino, Inorganic Lead Exposure, Metabolism and Intoxication, (Chapter 4), Pietro Castellino, Nicola Sannolo, Souces of Lead Pollution which affects humans. RC-Press; 1 edition (January 22, 1995), ISBN-10: 0873719972
- "Resuspension of Soil as a Source of Airborne Lead near Industrial Facilities and Highways ", Thomas M Young et als, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Air Quality Group, Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, University of California, Davis, CA, Environ. Sci. Technol., 36 (11), 2484 -2490, 2002. 10.1021/es015609u S0013-936X(01)05609-7
- "Stationary sources of airborne lead : A comparison of emissions data for southern California", HARRIS Allison R., FIFAREK Brian J., DAVIDSON Cliff I., BLACKMON Rebecca Lankey, Congrès 2005 Conference on Particulate Matter Supersites Program and Related Studies, Atlanta, GA, reviewed in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association ISSN 1096-2247 CODEN JAWAFC. Discrepancies found among databases of lead contamination sources.
- "Standard Operating Procedure for Determining Lead (Pb) and Its Availability in Children's Metal Jewelery [PDF] US CPSC, 2/3/2005
- Lead Hazards: Advice, evaluation, mitigation, services - lead paint, lead in plumbing, lead in water, air, dust
- How to Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home [PDF] U.S. CPSC publication with additional links and resource references
- "Dally No Longer, Get the Lead Out, Jane Brody, The New York Times," 17 January 2006 p. F6. This is a good article for summarizing the lead issue. Original source: select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40915F73F5B0C748DDDA80894DE404482
- SOP for Determining Lead (Pb) and And Its Availability in Children's Jewelry [PDF]
- Toy Industry Policy on Lead in Toys, International Council of Toy Industries, October 8, 1997
"The voluntary standard established in the United States under ASTM F-963 and the European standard under EN-71 for soluble lead in toys (lead which may migrate from the toy and be ingested by the child) is 90 parts-per-million. At that level, any intentional use of lead in paints or other surface coatings containing lead would immediately put the toy over the permitted limit."
"Under federal law, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) enforces a standard for total lead of 600 ppm. Recently, the CPSC refused to lower the lead limit in paint and other similar surface coating materials to 100 ppm after finding that most paints sold in the United States were already at or below that level and, therefore, these materials did not present an unreasonable risk of injury warranting further government regulation." - original source: vinyltoys.com/docs/hm/icti_lead.html - "E.P.A. Toughens Standard on Lead Emissions; Change is the First in 3 Decades", Felicity Barringer, , 17 October 2008 p. A15. New York Times
- "EPA Sets Rule to get the lead out of our air," MSNBC, 16 October, 2008 www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27216428/
- EPA Tightens health standards for airborne lead," USA Today, usatoday.com/news/washington/environment/2008-10-16-lead-environment_N.htm
- "Displaced Gypsies at Risk from Lead in Kosovo Camps," Nicholas Wood, New York Times, 5 February 2006 p5.
- In addition to citations & references found in this article, see the research citations given at the end of the related articles found at our suggested
CONTINUE READING or RECOMMENDED ARTICLES.
- Carson, Dunlop & Associates Ltd., 120 Carlton Street Suite 407, Toronto ON M5A 4K2. Tel: (416) 964-9415 1-800-268-7070 Email: info@carsondunlop.com. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.
Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, for permission for InspectAPedia to use text excerpts from The HOME REFERENCE BOOK - the Encyclopedia of Homes and to use illustrations from The ILLUSTRATED HOME .
Carson Dunlop Associates provides extensive home inspection education and report writing material. In gratitude we provide links to tsome Carson Dunlop Associates products and services.
 |
HOME | ABOUT | ASK a QUESTION | CONTACT | CONTENT USE POLICY | DESCRIPTION | POLICIES | PRIVACY | |
| © 2026 - 1985 Publisher InspectApedia.com - Daniel Friedman | |||||||||