The United Parents Against Lead joined eight other environmental groups in a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to the Richmond Free Press. The leader of the organization, Queen Zakie Shabazz, said the current standards set by the EPA do not sufficiently reduce the threat of lead poisoning for children.
The federal suit alleges that the EPA has failed to carry out a 2017 court order requiring the agency to update the standard on lead dust in older homes, schools and day care centers where lead-based paint has not been removed or properly covered or where lead dust has contaminated the soil.
The lawsuit charges that the lead hazard standards EPA put in place in June are too lax to protect at least half the children who are most exposed to lead.
“President Trump’s EPA had a chance to follow mainstream science and correctly update these standards for children’s sake,” Eve Gartner, the Earthjustice attorney who filed the suit on behalf of that organization, UPAL and others. “Instead, it botched the opportunity and issued a rule that falls far short of safeguarding children.”
The EPA recently announced tighter standards for lead in dust on floors and window sills to protect children from the effects of lead exposure. The agency lowered the dust-lead hazard standards to 10 micrograms of lead per square foot (µg/ft2) from 40 µg/ft2 for floors and to 100 µg/ft2 from 250 µg/ft2 for window sills. The primary lawsuit, brought against the EPA by environmental group Earthjustice, faults the EPA for adopting standards that fall short of determining the risks posed to children from peeling lead paint.
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