www.areteeps.com           Lead Testing | Remediation | Health

The USEPA, HUD and OSHA have established extensive requirements concerning the prevention of lead poisoning to workers and building users.

• Lead Testing & Inspections
• Lead Removal & Disposal
• Lead Abatement for Historical Structures
• HUD Housing

Arete EPS has been performing lead abatement services since 1984. Since this time, we have successfully completed hundreds of lead abatement projects from residential homes to 100,000 sq. ft. military aircraft hangars. Our customers range from individual home-owners, schools, hospitals, federal and state government institutions to Fortune 500 companies.


Whether your needs require lead paint removal from small areas of structural steel to accommodate cutting and welding or a 300,000 square foot blasting operation requiring containment, Arete EPS can provide a complete turnkey operation. You the customer will receive complete documentation regarding air sampling, worker qualifications, proper waste disposal and all applicable permits.

Lead Based Paint: Lead is ever-present in all urban environments due to its pervasive use for industrial, automotive, and household used over the past 100 years. It remains a common element in older homes, either as paint, dusts, or in the sites soil. The presence of lead can only be determined by a professional assessment of the physical characteristics of the material, such as its susceptibility to damage, and the potential for interface between the building occupants and the material is critical to assess the real hazard (and to then define an appropriate response action.) For more information visit the HUD Web Site.

LEAD HAZARD INFORMATION PAMPHLET

This section provides copies of the EPA Lead Hazard Information Pamphlet, "Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home" in various formats.

URL: http://www.hud.gov/lea/leadhelp.html

EPA/HUD Residential Lead-Based Paint Disclosure Program - (Section 1018 of Title X)

Recognizing that families have a right to know about lead-based paint and potential lead hazards in their homes, Congress directed EPA and HUD to work together to develop disclosure requirements for sales and leases of older housing. Under section 1018 of the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (also known as Title X), EPA and HUD published the Federal lead disclosure regulations on March 6, 1996.

URL: http://www.epa.gov/lead/leadbase.htm

Preventing Childhood Lead Exposure
A Guide to Online and Offline Resources and Information About Lead Paint

Dealing With Old Lead Paint: Practical Guidelines for Consumers

Reports about lead have become commonplace in the news. A wide variety of consumer products have been targeted as dangerous because they contain lead. Old lead paint is one of those products. Although consumer paint has not contained lead in decades, people who own or live in older dwellings may find themselves left with more questions than answers regarding lead and their safety.

Dust and soil can contain lead. So can drinking water and glazes on some dishes. It's used in hobbies and crafts, and in some industrial operations. And, at one time, it was used as a pigment in house paint.

The paint industry began phasing out the use of lead as early as the 1920s. By the 1940s, titanium dioxide and lithopone accounted for more than 80 percent of the pigment used by the paint industry. In addition, by 1953, industry consensus standards limited lead use in house paints to no more than 1.0 percent, and in 1962 this number was revised to no more than 0.5 percent.

In 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued its first regulations limiting the lead content in consumer paints to no more than 0.5 percent, a limit that industry had voluntarily imposed on itself 10 years earlier. And in 1978, when the CPSC banned lead use in consumer paints altogether, industry had already moved to the use of safer and more effective substitutes.

Some older (pre-1960) homes may still contain lead paint. If that old paint is chipped, peeling or cracking, if it's around doors or windows, if it's on sills or baseboards, or if it's on a surface that a young child can mouth or chew, it can be a hazard.

Keeping Your Family Lead Safe

While lead may be useful in many industrial processes and manufactured products, it can also be harmful. Childhood lead poisoning is a serious illness that can occur when a child ingests (eats) a product containing lead or inhales lead dust. And, if lead enters a pregnant woman's bloodstream, her unborn baby may be harmed. Even women who are considering becoming pregnant should make sure that their homes are lead safe as a precaution.

Lead poisoning can affect the brain and the nervous system. It has been related to learning disabilities and other serious problems.

A child is possibly at risk if he or she:

• Breathes in lead dust or eats soil containing lead;
• Eats chips of old paint that may contain lead; or
• Drinks water tainted with lead from old pipes or solder.

Some doctors recommend that all children under age 6 should have their blood tested for lead at least once a year. Parents should consult a pediatrician or clinic for advice. If your doctor recommends a test, and the test shows that your child's blood-lead level (BLL) is higher than it should be, you need to find out where the lead is coming from.

The key to preventing lead poisoning is lowering exposure by finding any sources of lead in your environment and blocking the pathway to those sources. If you suspect old lead paint may be a source of lead in your home, there are various tests you can use to find out. Or, if you're planning to remodel your home by tearing down walls that could raise dangerous lead dust, you should consider testing for lead first.

Testing Your Home 

If you have young children, are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant, are planning renovations to your pre-1978 home, or your child has been shown to have lead exposure, you'll need a thorough lead risk assessment.

At minimum, home test kits are sold in many paint, hardware, and home center stores. When used according to directions, they can detect old lead paint with more than 90 percent accuracy. You use a swab to apply a chemical to the paint, and look for a color change, indicating the presence of lead.

Laboratory analysis of paint chips is the most accurate test, but depending on the number of samples to be analyzed, it can be expensive. Many lab test kits are sold at paint, hardware and home center stores. These kits provide sampling instructions and mailers to ship paint chip, soil and dust samples to accredited laboratories for skilled analyses. In addition, consumers can find a lab that tests paint for lead content by calling one of the three organizations listed in this brochure under "More Information."

When you call, ask the lab for specific instructions about how to take a proper sample, and make sure your sample contains all the layers of paint, not just the more recent coats. Seal the sample in a plastic bag and send it along with the required testing fee.

X-ray fluorescence, or XRF testing, uses a special instrument and is a job for a well-trained operator. Unfortunately, many XRF instruments in use today are inaccurate, and some operators haven't had enough experience in using the equipment, so widely varying readings can result. Most experts recommend that XRF testing should be verified by laboratory analysis before any corrective action is initiated -- so you may want to think about using a lab to start with.

If you decide to have a lead risk assessment done by a professional contractor, make sure it is done by someone who is certified by your state. It is also a good idea to select a contractor who does not also do lead abatement work to avoid a conflict of interest.

What to Do If Buying, Selling, Leasing, or Renovating a Home

A federal law that went into effect in 1996 includes the following provisions:

LANDLORDS and SELLERS have to disclose known information on lead-based paint hazards before leases take effect or sales are final. Leases and contracts must include a federal form about old lead paint. Landlords and sellers must also give buyers and renters the government brochure, Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home.

BUYERS have up to 10 days to conduct a lead-based paint inspection or risk assessment at their own expense.

RENOVATORS and REMODELERS have to give customers an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brochure before starting work. The brochure is titled, Reducing Lead Hazards When Remodeling Your Home.

What If the Tests Show Lead Paint?  

A recent EPA/Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Task Force report confirmed that old lead paint that is well-maintained does not present a hazard and is best left undisturbed. If the old lead paint is in poor condition -- peeling, chipping, cracking or flaking -- or if you plan to conduct any repairs or renovations, the lead can become a hazard, as it can create dust, which is the major pathway for exposure to lead. Lead dust can form when old lead paint is dry scraped, dry sanded, or heated. Dust also forms when painted surfaces bump or rub together. Lead dust can get on surfaces and objects that people touch. Settled lead dust can re-enter the air when people vacuum, sweep, or walk through it.

Don't ever try to remove old lead paint by yourself. It is absolutely essential that a professional contractor trained in proper handling and removal of lead-based paint performs the job. Untrained, unskilled contractors or amateur do-it-yourself efforts can greatly increase risk by creating lead dust and releasing it into the air, and creating new lead contamination sites. Please note that when renovations are planned that involve construction or lead removal, your family (especially children and pregnant women) should be temporarily moved out of the home until the work is done and the area is properly cleaned. If you have already completed renovations that could have released lead-based paint or dust, get your young children tested.

What you do next depends on what condition the paint is in. Take a look around your home. See whether any of the paint is chipping, cracking, peeling, or showing blisters or bubbles. Examine surfaces where windows slide up and down and spots where doors may rub against jambs, for signs of wear and tear. The key is to look for deteriorated conditions that could pose a hazard.

1. Abatement         

If your home contains large areas of old lead paint (i.e., greater than 10 percent of the painted surface area) in bad condition, abatement may be your best option. You've probably heard or read about "lead abatement." Those words most often emphasize efforts to remove the paint and eliminate the hazard.

Removal of lead-based paint remains a very expensive option and should take place only when the old lead paint has significantly deteriorated, or if earlier renovations have left lead-contaminated dust in the home. Removal must be done by a licensed contractor who has been fully trained and knows exactly how to go about removing the lead, disposing of the debris safely, and thoroughly cleaning up afterwards.

Too often, a well-meaning do-it-yourselfer, attempting to remove lead-containing paint, creates a health hazard where none existed before! Trying to remove the old paint by sanding will cause dust. Stripping it off by burning it with a heat-gun can create dangerous fumes. So if your project involves paint stripping, or construction work that could release significant lead dust, call a professional.

An increasingly popular permanent lead abatement technique is to apply approved encapsulation products. Encapsulation of old lead paint is particularly encouraging as a more practical and cost-effective alternative to full removal of the paint.

2. Interim Solutions     

If your paint is in good condition, and you're not doing major remodeling that could disturb painted surfaces, you may want to consider some simple interim solutions, also known as "in-place management."

Experts confirm that the most common exposure pathway is through lead-contaminated dust or soil that gets on children's hands and into their mouths during normal hand-to-mouth activity.

Make sure that surface dust in the house is lead free. Remember that there could be a dust hazard in the home if contaminated dust or soil has been blown or tracked inside, or if dust from earlier renovations wasn't cleaned up properly.

Again, an accredited laboratory can help by analyzing a dust sample. Call a lab recommended by one of the organizations listed at the end of this brochure. They will tell you how to perform a wet-wipe test on floors, walls, and windowsills, then you can send in your dust sample for analysis.

If your wet-wipe test results show significant amounts of lead dust, upholstered furniture and rugs may also be contaminated, and ordinary vacuum cleaning or shampooing may not get all of the dust out. You may want to have these items professionally cleaned or it may be more practical to replace them. Similarly, if chipped or peeling paint is confined to small trim areas such as baseboards or moldings, the best solution may be to remove and replace these items.

After making sure that any exposed old lead paint is intact and in good condition, you are ready to apply a series of simple interim solutions, which make up what is called in-place management.

The objective of in-place management is to make sure that lead-painted surfaces are sealed, intact, and easy to clean. Follow these steps for effective in-place management:

• As with any do-it-yourself project, keep children out of the area where you're working. Don't eat or smoke without first washing your hands and, when the workday is over, clean up thoroughly and change your clothes.
• One of the most important things you can do to protect small children is to clean up dust on floors, where they spend a lot of time. Don't use a broom or regular household vacuum cleaner. Neither will do a good enough job of removing contaminated dust.
• Professionals use a special high-efficiency particulate air-filtered (HEPA) vacuum, and follow up with wet mopping.
• At a minimum, if you can't rent or borrow a HEPA vacuum, wet mop thoroughly with a solution of lead-specific detergent in water, changing the wash water often.
• Wash walls and trim with the lead-specific detergent solution, again changing the wash water frequently. Concentrate on areas where windows slide up and down, or where doors may scrape against jambs and create dust.
• As you prepare to repaint, put down disposable drop cloths. When the job is finished, roll up the cloths carefully, keeping any dust or debris inside, and dispose of them.
• Do not dry-sand the old paint surface to rough it up. If absolutely necessary, wet-sand sparingly with wet/dry abrasive paper. You might consider a chemical deglosser as an alternative to sanding -- but if you do, make sure to open doors and windows for adequate ventilation, and follow the label directions. Follow up with a thorough cleaning, again using a lead-specific detergent solution.
• Repaint with two coats of high-quality paint. When choosing your new paint, remember that you want a cleanable surface that will hold up under frequent washings.
• To make sure surfaces are clean and uncontaminated, you may want to repeat the wet-wipe testing of surfaces after the job is finished.

3. Maintenance     

Proper maintenance is important. Remember, in-place management is not a one-time, permanent solution. Carefully carried out, it is an effective alternative until you plan major renovations -- when abatement becomes both necessary and cost effective. Until then, in-place management is an ongoing process. Frequent, thorough cleaning and maintenance are essential, and so is close attention to children's hygiene and hand-to-mouth behavior. Wash their hands and faces often, and teach them to wash up before eating. Pay close attention to what they put into their mouths, and continue to have their blood tested as often as needed.

 Surfaces coated with lead paint pose a serious risk to human health. In children, the risks and effects of lead poisoning are greater. Because of this, the practice of removing lead paint from surfaces has become highly regulated. Within short periods of time, lead level standards established by agencies such as OSHA and HUD have become, and continue to become, much more stringent.

Faced with these quickly evolving, ever tightening standards, owners of commercial, residential, industrial and other facilities may be potentially more vulnerable to charges of excessive lead levels within their building environments. Indifference to this vulnerability, or improper removal of lead-coated surfaces, can result in stiff financial penalties. In cases where lead poisoning can be traced directly to the building environment, owners can face more severe consequences.

How Arete EPS Removes Lead Quickly And Safely.

Attempting to remove lead paint from surfaces using improper equipment or procedures serves only to magnify the health risks. Dust and fumes containing lead that are normally kicked up by the removal process must be contained and disposed of safely.

Arete EPS uses a variety of methods and technology to cost-effectively remove lead from commercial, industrial, institutional and other facilities and structures with minimal disruption in operations and without risk to the inhabitants' or the removing experts' health.

Vacuum Blasting.

Vacuum blasting employs a hand-held device designed to dislodge lead paint from a metal or concrete surface. A containment "shroud" attached to a HEPA-filtered vacuum completely encases the device - preventing lead dust and fumes from entering the environment. Shot blasting using the HEPA-filtered vacuum is also effective.

Contained Blasting.

This permits the use of a range of abrasive blasting media in a fully contained, HEPA-filtered, negative-pressure environment. These include aluminum oxide (black beauty), sand or recyclable steel shot. Technicians wear specialized suits and respirators designed to protect them from lead dust and debris.

Chemical Stripping.

This is used to remove lead from a variety of surfaces including wood, plastic, metal and concrete without damaging the surface. It is used in small-scale removal projects and where other methods may be impractical.

24-Hour Service And Applications Assistance.

Arete EPS is on call 24 hours a day for emergency service. Our applications technicians are ready to handle your lead removal problem with expert advice and timely response. For more details or for immediate applications assistance - call.

Dealing With Old Lead Paint: Practical Guidelines for Consumers

Reports about lead have become commonplace in the news. A wide variety of consumer products have been targeted as dangerous because they contain lead. Old lead paint is one of those products. Although consumer paint has not contained lead in decades, people who own or live in older dwellings may find themselves left with more questions than answers regarding lead and their safety.

Dust and soil can contain lead. So can drinking water and glazes on some dishes. It's used in hobbies and crafts, and in some industrial operations. And, at one time, it was used as a pigment in house paint.

The paint industry began phasing out the use of lead as early as the 1920s. By the 1940s, titanium dioxide and lithopone accounted for more than 80 percent of the pigment used by the paint industry. In addition, by 1953, industry consensus standards limited lead use in house paints to no more than 1.0 percent, and in 1962 this number was revised to no more than 0.5 percent.

In 1972, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued its first regulations limiting the lead content in consumer paints to no more than 0.5 percent, a limit that industry had voluntarily imposed on itself 10 years earlier. And in 1978, when the CPSC banned lead use in consumer paints altogether, industry had already moved to the use of safer and more effective substitutes.

Some older (pre-1960) homes may still contain lead paint. If that old paint is chipped, peeling or cracking, if it's around doors or windows, if it's on sills or baseboards, or if it's on a surface that a young child can mouth or chew, it can be a hazard.

Keeping Your Family Lead Safe

While lead may be useful in many industrial processes and manufactured products, it can also be harmful. Childhood lead poisoning is a serious illness that can occur when a child ingests (eats) a product containing lead or inhales lead dust. And, if lead enters a pregnant woman's bloodstream, her unborn baby may be harmed. Even women who are considering becoming pregnant should make sure that their homes are lead safe as a precaution.

Lead poisoning can affect the brain and the nervous system. It has been related to learning disabilities and other serious problems.

A child is possibly at risk if he or she:

• Breathes in lead dust or eats soil containing lead;
• Eats chips of old paint that may contain lead; or
• Drinks water tainted with lead from old pipes or solder.

Some doctors recommend that all children under age 6 should have their blood tested for lead at least once a year. Parents should consult a pediatrician or clinic for advice. If your doctor recommends a test, and the test shows that your child's blood-lead level (BLL) is higher than it should be, you need to find out where the lead is coming from.

The key to preventing lead poisoning is lowering exposure by finding any sources of lead in your environment and blocking the pathway to those sources. If you suspect old lead paint may be a source of lead in your home, there are various tests you can use to find out. Or, if you're planning to remodel your home by tearing down walls that could raise dangerous lead dust, you should consider testing for lead first.

Testing Your Home 

If you have young children, are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant, are planning renovations to your pre-1978 home, or your child has been shown to have lead exposure, you'll need a thorough lead risk assessment.

At minimum, home test kits are sold in many paint, hardware, and home center stores. When used according to directions, they can detect old lead paint with more than 90 percent accuracy. You use a swab to apply a chemical to the paint, and look for a color change, indicating the presence of lead.

Laboratory analysis of paint chips is the most accurate test, but depending on the number of samples to be analyzed, it can be expensive. Many lab test kits are sold at paint, hardware and home center stores. These kits provide sampling instructions and mailers to ship paint chip, soil and dust samples to accredited laboratories for skilled analyses. In addition, consumers can find a lab that tests paint for lead content by calling one of the three organizations listed in this brochure under "More Information."

When you call, ask the lab for specific instructions about how to take a proper sample, and make sure your sample contains all the layers of paint, not just the more recent coats. Seal the sample in a plastic bag and send it along with the required testing fee.

X-ray fluorescence, or XRF testing, uses a special instrument and is a job for a well-trained operator. Unfortunately, many XRF instruments in use today are inaccurate, and some operators haven't had enough experience in using the equipment, so widely varying readings can result. Most experts recommend that XRF testing should be verified by laboratory analysis before any corrective action is initiated -- so you may want to think about using a lab to start with.

If you decide to have a lead risk assessment done by a professional contractor, make sure it is done by someone who is certified by your state. It is also a good idea to select a contractor who does not also do lead abatement work to avoid a conflict of interest.

What to Do If Buying, Selling, Leasing, or Renovating a Home

A federal law that went into effect in 1996 includes the following provisions:

LANDLORDS and SELLERS have to disclose known information on lead-based paint hazards before leases take effect or sales are final. Leases and contracts must include a federal form about old lead paint. Landlords and sellers must also give buyers and renters the government brochure, Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home.

BUYERS have up to 10 days to conduct a lead-based paint inspection or risk assessment at their own expense.

RENOVATORS and REMODELERS have to give customers an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) brochure before starting work. The brochure is titled, Reducing Lead Hazards When Remodeling Your Home.

What If the Tests Show Lead Paint?  

A recent EPA/Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Task Force report confirmed that old lead paint that is well-maintained does not present a hazard and is best left undisturbed. If the old lead paint is in poor condition -- peeling, chipping, cracking or flaking -- or if you plan to conduct any repairs or renovations, the lead can become a hazard, as it can create dust, which is the major pathway for exposure to lead. Lead dust can form when old lead paint is dry scraped, dry sanded, or heated. Dust also forms when painted surfaces bump or rub together. Lead dust can get on surfaces and objects that people touch. Settled lead dust can re-enter the air when people vacuum, sweep, or walk through it.

Don't ever try to remove old lead paint by yourself. It is absolutely essential that a professional contractor trained in proper handling and removal of lead-based paint performs the job. Untrained, unskilled contractors or amateur do-it-yourself efforts can greatly increase risk by creating lead dust and releasing it into the air, and creating new lead contamination sites. Please note that when renovations are planned that involve construction or lead removal, your family (especially children and pregnant women) should be temporarily moved out of the home until the work is done and the area is properly cleaned. If you have already completed renovations that could have released lead-based paint or dust, get your young children tested.

What you do next depends on what condition the paint is in. Take a look around your home. See whether any of the paint is chipping, cracking, peeling, or showing blisters or bubbles. Examine surfaces where windows slide up and down and spots where doors may rub against jambs, for signs of wear and tear. The key is to look for deteriorated conditions that could pose a hazard.

1. Abatement         

If your home contains large areas of old lead paint (i.e., greater than 10 percent of the painted surface area) in bad condition, abatement may be your best option. You've probably heard or read about "lead abatement." Those words most often emphasize efforts to remove the paint and eliminate the hazard.

Removal of lead-based paint remains a very expensive option and should take place only when the old lead paint has significantly deteriorated, or if earlier renovations have left lead-contaminated dust in the home. Removal must be done by a licensed contractor who has been fully trained and knows exactly how to go about removing the lead, disposing of the debris safely, and thoroughly cleaning up afterwards.

Too often, a well-meaning do-it-yourselfer, attempting to remove lead-containing paint, creates a health hazard where none existed before! Trying to remove the old paint by sanding will cause dust. Stripping it off by burning it with a heat-gun can create dangerous fumes. So if your project involves paint stripping, or construction work that could release significant lead dust, call a professional.

An increasingly popular permanent lead abatement technique is to apply approved encapsulation products. Encapsulation of old lead paint is particularly encouraging as a more practical and cost-effective alternative to full removal of the paint.

2. Interim Solutions     

If your paint is in good condition, and you're not doing major remodeling that could disturb painted surfaces, you may want to consider some simple interim solutions, also known as "in-place management."

Experts confirm that the most common exposure pathway is through lead-contaminated dust or soil that gets on children's hands and into their mouths during normal hand-to-mouth activity.

Make sure that surface dust in the house is lead free. Remember that there could be a dust hazard in the home if contaminated dust or soil has been blown or tracked inside, or if dust from earlier renovations wasn't cleaned up properly.

Again, an accredited laboratory can help by analyzing a dust sample. Call a lab recommended by one of the organizations listed at the end of this brochure. They will tell you how to perform a wet-wipe test on floors, walls, and windowsills, then you can send in your dust sample for analysis.

If your wet-wipe test results show significant amounts of lead dust, upholstered furniture and rugs may also be contaminated, and ordinary vacuum cleaning or shampooing may not get all of the dust out. You may want to have these items professionally cleaned or it may be more practical to replace them. Similarly, if chipped or peeling paint is confined to small trim areas such as baseboards or moldings, the best solution may be to remove and replace these items.

After making sure that any exposed old lead paint is intact and in good condition, you are ready to apply a series of simple interim solutions, which make up what is called in-place management.

The objective of in-place management is to make sure that lead-painted surfaces are sealed, intact, and easy to clean. Follow these steps for effective in-place management:

• As with any do-it-yourself project, keep children out of the area where you're working. Don't eat or smoke without first washing your hands and, when the workday is over, clean up thoroughly and change your clothes.
• One of the most important things you can do to protect small children is to clean up dust on floors, where they spend a lot of time. Don't use a broom or regular household vacuum cleaner. Neither will do a good enough job of removing contaminated dust.
• Professionals use a special high-efficiency particulate air-filtered (HEPA) vacuum, and follow up with wet mopping.
• At a minimum, if you can't rent or borrow a HEPA vacuum, wet mop thoroughly with a solution of lead-specific detergent in water, changing the wash water often.
• Wash walls and trim with the lead-specific detergent solution, again changing the wash water frequently. Concentrate on areas where windows slide up and down, or where doors may scrape against jambs and create dust.
• As you prepare to repaint, put down disposable drop cloths. When the job is finished, roll up the cloths carefully, keeping any dust or debris inside, and dispose of them.
• Do not dry-sand the old paint surface to rough it up. If absolutely necessary, wet-sand sparingly with wet/dry abrasive paper. You might consider a chemical deglosser as an alternative to sanding -- but if you do, make sure to open doors and windows for adequate ventilation, and follow the label directions. Follow up with a thorough cleaning, again using a lead-specific detergent solution.
• Repaint with two coats of high-quality paint. When choosing your new paint, remember that you want a cleanable surface that will hold up under frequent washings.
• To make sure surfaces are clean and uncontaminated, you may want to repeat the wet-wipe testing of surfaces after the job is finished.

3. Maintenance     

Proper maintenance is important. Remember, in-place management is not a one-time, permanent solution. Carefully carried out, it is an effective alternative until you plan major renovations -- when abatement becomes both necessary and cost effective. Until then, in-place management is an ongoing process. Frequent, thorough cleaning and maintenance are essential, and so is close attention to children's hygiene and hand-to-mouth behavior. Wash their hands and faces often, and teach them to wash up before eating. Pay close attention to what they put into their mouths, and continue to have their blood tested as often as your doctor or clinic recommends.