Healthy Indoors Magazine
Issue link: https://hi.healthyindoors.com/i/1056074
Healthy Indoors | 13 If you are considering purchasing an older home that has not been de-leaded, do not try to de-lead it yourself. If you are considering moving into a house or apartment that has been de-leaded, find out whether professionals did the job, and whether surfaces in the house or apartment were thoroughly cleaned afterwards to remove all dust. You might want to require that the dust on various surfaces be tested for lead before you move in. This would include car- peting, since the fibers capture dust. If you are considering moving into an older home (con- structed prior to 1978), you should have the soil around the house's perimeter tested for lead, especially if you have or are planning to have children, and/or if you are planning to have a garden. If the soil around the house contains lead, you should not let your children play in the dirt, and you should plant a garden in raised beds with soil you purchase for this purpose. Lastly, you and your guests should remove shoes when entering the home. The Power of Myths The lingering belief that lead paint tastes sweet is an exam- ple of the persistent power of myths. Here is another myth whose survival I find surprising. For over a century, ever since the famous German chemist Justus Liebig declared that searing meat seals in the juices, practically every cookbook encouraged cooks to take this step. Only in the last few decades has it been proven that searing meat at the start of cooking does not prevent the loss of juices. Anyone who has ever barbecued a piece of meat and then placed it on a platter afterwards cannot fail to see that juice runs out of the well-seared meat. This reminds me of a joke I heard years ago about a conversation between a little girl and her mother. Little girl: "Mommy, why do you cut the end of the roast off before putting it in the baking pan?" Mom: "Maybe it's because my mother does that. Let's call Grandma and ask her." Little girl to Grandma: "Grandma, why do you cut the end of the roast off before putting it into the baking pan?" Grandma: "I guess that's because my mother does that. Let's call Great Grandma and ask her." Little girl to Great Grandma: "Great Grandma, why do you cut the end of the roast off before putting it into the baking pan?" Great Grandma: "Well…because my pan is too small." And on it goes! this first-hand. When I was much younger, I started a wood-refinishing business to test out a method I invented to remove paint. I frequently had the "opportunity" to deal with lead paint; on several occasions, I cautiously "tasted" some of the paint chips. I never tasted a sweet chip. So I do not believe that children are lead poisoned be- cause they eat lead paint. I do believe, however, that dust and soil containing lead are worrisome culprits. Children can be lead poisoned if a property has been sloppily de-leaded, and there is lead dust remaining on interior surfaces. Then they can get that dust on their toys and fingers, and from fingers to mouth. They can also in- hale the dust. If lead paint is scraped off the exterior of an older home, and lead dust falls to the soil below, then children who play in the yard could conceivably be exposed to lead in the dirt. Using a circular sander on lead paint; worker is unprotected May Indoor Air Investigations LLC Removing lead paint and creating dust May Indoor Air Investigations LLC