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I INTRODUCTION & PROBLEM STATEMENT
A. INTRODUCTION
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead poisoning is one ofthetopenvironmentalthreatstochildren’shealth.TheIllinoisDepartmentofPublicHealth reports that in 2 005 approximately 8,1 00 Illinois children were identified as lead-poisoned, with almost 4,200 of these children living in Chicago.^1 Since most children are not tested—even when required under state law 2 —it is likely that the actual number of Illinois children poisoned by lead is much higher. In addition, research suggests that children are being harmed by lead paint and showing adverse health effects at lower lead levels than earlier thought. These children are not yet counted in the reported numbers. The Illinois Department of Public Health estimates that over 81,000 children in Illinois are being harmed by lead paint.^3 The purpose of this Benchbook on Lead Paint Poisoning is to provide judges at all experience levels with a comprehensive and easily accessible reference guide as they conduct hearings and enter orders in Housing Court proceedings concerning lead hazards. The Benchbook addresses both procedural and substantive issues. It is not intended to function as a legal treatise. Instead, it educates judges and administrative hearing officers on the dangers of lead poisoning and on the relevant laws, rules, and regulations to assure lead-safe housing for children and their families. Part I of the Benchbook offers an overview of the problem of lead paint poisoning. The City and State laws and regulations, as they pertain to lead poisoning, are provided under Parts II and III. A summary of the law and accompanying rules and regulations precedes each part. The City of Chicago Law Department prosecutes lead-based paint violations under Title 7 of the Municipal Code. Inaddition,theCookCountyState’sAttorney’sOfficeandtheIllinois AttorneyGeneral’sofficemayprosecuteundertheIllinoisLeadPoisoningPreventionAct. Appendices are included in Part IV of the Benchbook. The appendices include a description of the process by which a housing unit may be identified as having lead paint, sample forms used by the Chicago Department of Public Health, and sample complaints and order forms. Appendix H provides the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) guidelines for paint inspection and the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of
- These regulations apply to HUD programs, including those that provide assistance for rehabilitation and tenant-based rental assistance. (^1) ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING SURVEILLANCE REPORT, (2005) at http://www.idph.state.il.us. Hereafter, LEAD POISONING SURVEILLANCE REPORT. (^2) Illinois law requires that children who live in high risk zip codes have their blood tested for lead. In all other communities, children are to be assessed for exposure to risks and tested when a risk is present. 410 ILCS 45/6.2(a); 77 Ill. Adm. Code 845.15. (^3) ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, GET THE LEAD OUT-ILLINOIS CHILDHOOD LEAD POISONING SURVEILLANCE REPORT 2001. Hereafter , GET THE LEAD OUT.
Appendix I provides the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 2008 Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule. This rule establishes lead safe work practices for renovators. It also sets forth requirements for training, certifying, and accrediting renovators, workers, and lead dust technicians, and for recordkeeping.
lead in Chicago is lead poisoned. 13 These figures are based on the Centers for Disease ControlandPrevention’sdefinitionofleadpoisoningasablood lead level of 10 g/dL (micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood) or above. Research suggests that children are being harmed by lead paint and showing adverse health effects at lead levels below the 10 g/dL. These children are not yet counted in the reported numbers. 14 Even at concentrations below 10g/dL, lead may affect cognitive abilities, including arithmetic skills, reading, nonverbal reasoning, and short term memory.^15 Based on this information, the Illinois Department of Public Health estimates that over 81,000 children in Illinois are being harmed by lead paint. 16 The blood lead levels of U.S. children aged one through six years old dramatically declined from the late 1970s through the early 1990s due primarily to the phase-out of leaded gasoline, the resulting decrease in lead emissions, the elimination of lead used in water pipes, and the ban on lead paint. Since lead is not biodegradable, however, it continues to be a source of lead poisoning in children unless it is properly removed or contained. Most children are lead poisoned in their own homes through exposure to lead dust or paint chips from deteriorated lead paint surfaces, or when lead painted surfaces are disturbed during home renovation or repainting. The greatest risk is lead-contaminated dust generated from the friction of opening and closing windows and doors.^17 Because older homes are more likely to have lead paint on their windows, doors and walls, and fallintodisrepair,theageofhousingstockaffectstheriskofchildren’sexposure to lead hazards. For example, even though lead paint has been banned in the United States since 1978, the Department of Housing and Urban Development found in 2002 that an estimated 24 million housing units still had significant lead based paint hazards in the form of deteriorated paint, dust lead, or bare soil lead. 18 The State of Illinois ranks 10 th out of the 50 states in the age of its housing stock. 19 In Chicago, more than 70% of the housing units (^13) LEAD POISONING SURVEILLANCE REPORT, supra note 1. Of the 101,033 Chicago children under age six who were tested in 2005, 4,466 had blood lead levels at or above 10 g/dL in 2005. (^14) In 2008, the City of Chicago Department of Public Health lowered the threshold at which it defines lead poisoned. In Chicago, a confirmed level of lead in human blood of greater than 5 g/dL (five micrograms per deciliter) is now considered lead poisoned. Future Chicago statistics will account for children who are negatively being affected by lead at levels lower than 10 g/dL. (^15) Todd A. Jusko, et al., Blood Lead Concentrations Less than 10 Micrograms per Deciliter and Child Intelligence at 6 Years of Age , Environmental Health Perspectives, November 2007. Richard Canfield, et. al., Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10 microg per Deciliter , 348 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 1517 (2003). Bruce P. Lanphear, Cognitive Deficits Associated with Blood Lead Concentrations 10 g/dL in U.S. Children and Adolescents, 115 PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTS 521, 521-529 (2000). (^16) GET THE LEAD OUT, supra note 3. (^17) ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH, GET THE LEAD OUT: RENOVATION- HOW TO SAFELY REMOVE PAINT, 1 (2002). Also at http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pdf/Lead_Renovation.pdf. (^18) OFFICE OF HEALTHY HOMES AND LEAD HAZARD CONTROL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, The Prevalence of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in U.S. Housing, Environmental Health Perspectives, October 2002, at A601. (^19) CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, SCREENING YOUNG CHILDREN FOR LEAD POISONING: GUIDANCE FOR STATE AND LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS , 15 - 16 (1997). Also at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/guide/1997/pdf/chapter1.pdf.
were built prior to 1960, 20 and an estimated 88,000 Chicago units are at high risk for lead hazards. Leadismosthazardoustothenation’s 24 millionchildrenagessixandunderbecause their brains and nervous systems are still developing. Children ages one to three years are at greatest risk of lead poisoning because of normal hand-to-mouth activity and the increase in mobility, which makes lead hazards more accessible. 21 Children absorb up to 50 percent of the lead they ingest, compared to adults who retain only 10 percent. 22 Lead can also be transmitted to a fetus if the mother ingests lead while pregnant or has been exposed to lead in the past.^23 During pregnancy, the lead stored in bones is released into the blood stream, and lead crosses the placental barrier throughout the gestation period, including the period during which the central nervous system is formed. 24 Lead Poisoning and Housing Court Most lead cases in Chicago’sHousing Court originate when a child has been poisoned.^25 Cases may also be filed in Housing Court before a child has been poisoned if a lead hazard has been identified.^26 Illinois law requires that all children in communities identified as high risk be tested for lead. 27 All other children must be assessed for risk beginning at age 6 months. 28 If a child is found to have an elevated lead level, an inspection ofthechild’shome,childcarefacility,andschoolisdone.Iftheinspectoridentifiesalead hazard, the property owner receives a notice that includes instructions for abating or mitigating the lead hazard within a set time period. Abatement means the removal or encapsulation of all lead-bearing substances in a residential building or dwelling unit. 29 Mitigation is defined as the remediation of lead hazards so that the lead bearing substance no (^20) Of the 1,061,921 housing units in Chicago, 338,945 owner occupied units, and 399,923 rental units were built prior to 1960. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, CENSUS 2000 SUMMARY FILE 3, MATRICES H36, H37, H38, AND H39, (2003) at http://factfinder.census.gov. (^21) Stapleton, supra note 6, at 2. (^22) Bone serves as a repository for a large percentage of the lead absorbed or ingested by children and adults. Lead from the skeleton enters into the blood stream during periods of bone mobilization. The mobilization of bone lead is increased during times of high bone turnover, which occurs during rapid growth in early childhood and during pregnancy. See Steve Oliveira et. al., Season Modifies the Relationship between Bone Lead Levels: The Normative Aging Study , 57 ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 466, 467 (2002). (^23) Brian Gulson et. al., Pregnancy Increases Mobilization of Lead from Maternal Skeleton, 130 JOURNAL OF LABORATORY AND CLINICAL MEDICINE 51, 51 (1997). (^24) Id. (^25) Jurisdictions take action at different levels of lead poisoning. For example the State of Illinois must inspect dwellings when a child has an elevated lead level of 25 g/dL or above,butmayinspectdwellingonceachild’s lead blood level reaches 10 g/dL. 77 Ill. Adm. Code § 845.26(a) (2004); 410 Ill. Comp. Stat. 45/8 (2004). In contrast,Chicago’sMunicipalCodeallowsacityrepresentativetoinspectcertain locales to determine the existence of a lead-bearing substance and require that any hazards be eliminated, without any blood level requirements. Chicago, Ill., Municipal Code §7- 4 - 090 (2004). Chicago, Ill., Municipal Code §7- 4 - 100 (2004). (^26) CHICAGO, ILL., MUNICIPAL CODE § 7 - 4 - 100 (2004). (^27 410) ILL. COMP. STAT. 45/6.2 (2004). (^28) Id. (^29 410) ILL. COMP. STAT. 45/2 (2004).
