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Is Your Home Lead-Safe? The District of Columbia’s Lead-Hazard Prevention and Elimination Act requires property owners to ensure their pre-1978 residential property has no lead-based paint hazards. By law, non-intact paint in a pre-1978 property is a presumed lead-based paint hazard unless the owner has documentation proving the paint is not lead-based. Non-intact paint is also a housing code violation. The District requires owners to disclose lead hazards to potential renters and home buyers. A permit from the District’s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) also may be required before renovating or abating a pre-1978 property.

This week on the Community Affairs Show Cheryl Jackson talks with Dr. Julie Krueger about making sure your children are safe from lead poisoning. About half a million U.S. Children below six years of age are exposed to lead each year.  Lead is a toxic (poisonous) metal.  Children can be exposed to lead by swallowing or breathing in lead or dust.  No safe blood lead level has been identified.  Even low levels of lead can harm children’s health.  Some of the health problems caused by lead poisoning may never go away.  In children, lead can cause: anemia, damage to the developing brain and nervous system, learning and behavior problems, slow growth and development, and hearing and speech problems.

Here are a few resources to help:

  • DC lead laws for tenants and owners: doee.dc.gov/service/lead-district-tenants-property-owners · DC housing code standards: dcra.dc.gov/service/dc-housing-code-standards
  • Financial help to reduce lead-based paint hazards: Contact DOEE’s Lead Reduction Program at doee.dc.gov/service/lead-reduction-program, (202) 236-2657, or lawanda.jones@dc.gov
  • Financial help to replace lead pipes: Contact DOEE’s Lead Pipe Replacement Assistance Program at doee.dc.gov/node/1451331, call 311, or email leadline.replacement@dc.gov.
  • Check your property for lead service lines with DC Water’s map at dcwater.com/servicemap.
  • Free drinking water lead test kit: dcwater.com/leadtest, (202) 612-3440, or leadtest@dcwater.com
  • District’s mold laws and DOEE-licensed mold professionals: doee.dc.gov/service/mold
  • How to test your home for radon: doee.dc.gov/radon or (202) 535-2302
  • Help with utility bills, energy efficiency, or solar: doee.dc.gov/energyassistance or (202) 299-5271

About Dr. Julie Krueger: 

Julie Krueger, MD, MPH, FAAP is a general pediatrician practicing in Southeast Washington, DC. Dr. Krueger came to Washington, DC area to focus on maternal and child health while obtaining her Master of Public Health from George Washington University. Dr. Krueger attended medical school at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA and returned to DC to attend to Children’s National for her pediatric residency training where she was part of the Community Health Track.

Dr. Krueger’s main areas of interest include care coordination at both the individual and system levels by improving the emergency medical record and focusing on community pediatrics with the goal of improving the health of children in under-resourced communities. Over the past two years, she was the medical lead physician of the DC AAP’s programmatic focus on Improving Lead Screening in the District through Collaboration of Expertise with the goal of screening more children living in the District for elevated lead levels. She also works as an asthma specialist to help address asthma triggers in the home environment and approaches medicine with a public health perspective. Her goal is to support families to have a healthy home to raise healthy children.

Community Affairs Show: Is Your Home Lead Safe?  was originally published on praisedc.com