LEAD PAINT DRAWS GROUP'S ATTENTION

Charlotte Craig could appreciate the quandary the minimum property standards review committee found itself in when it considered the dilemma of dealing with high levels of lead in old homes.

"Let's say you go into a home and you find that a family has lead in the pipes," said Craig, who is director of Cape Girardeau County Health Services. "The family is able to pay its bills but is struggling to make ends meet," she said. "Who is going to pay for someone to come in and replace those pipes?"

A landlord, who is a member of the property standards review committee, found herself wondering the same thing. "I've got mixed emotions here," she said. "I'm for making an environment and a house safe for kids, but if I had to go into the property I own and make drastic changes, I'd be out of business. I just couldn't afford that."

Brian Shelton, who is a member of the minimum property standards review committee, thinks any mandate to remove lead in old homes would be an invasion of privacy.

"If the people in Cape Girardeau knew that we were sitting here tonight talking about mandating the removal of lead paint in their homes, they'd be up in arms about it," said Shelton. "I just think that would be too much of an intrusion."

But the problem still exists. And Craig believes future surveys will tell just how dangerous the problem is.

According to Craig, there have been five or six cases over the past year in Cape Girardeau where children were found to have high levels of lead in their blood.

By law, those cases must be reported to the Missouri Department of Health. Craig said a child with more than 10 micrograms of lead in his blood is reported. She cited cases in Cape Girardeau, where children's blood-lead levels were 30 micrograms or more.

"It's still too early to tell how many cases are out there, because they are just now being reported," she said. "But I will say that I believe there are enough out there to be concerned."

According to a 1993 survey conducted by the Missouri Department of health, there were 30,193 children six years of age or younger who were screened for high levels of lead poisoning. Some 23,105 were found to have 10 micrograms in their blood and 5,875 were found to have 10-19 micrograms. There were 1,213 found to have levels of 20 or higher micrograms in their blood. The survey included St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Springfield and Kansas City.

Identifying the problem has been relatively simple. Dealing with it, however, becomes more complex, because detection and testing involves several professionals, all of whom must be paid for their services.

"It's a very serious and difficult problem to deal with because it becomes very expensive," said Craig. "But something has to be done because children can suffer from mental retardation and experience learning disabilities because of the high toxicity of lead in their blood."

David Roth, who is the chief operating officer for Environmental Associates Inc., said that when high levels of lead get into a child's bloodstream, it affects the nervous system and makes learning difficult.

Roth was hired by Housing and Urban Development to test government buildings for high levels of lead. "It becomes a very expensive process," he said. "If you want to test the paint by chips, it's about $20 per sample. If you use a gun that picks up the level of lead in the walls, doors and other areas, it costs about $250 per house."

The cheapest way to deal with high levels of lead in old homes is to paint over it. "You literally create a barrier between the lead and the child, but that is really only a band-aid when you consider trying to completely solve the problem," said Roth.

Another way to reduce the risk of high levels of lead in a child's blood is complete removal. "Even then there have been times when removing it -- causing dust and particles to get in the air -- creates a more hazardous situation that if you just left it alone," said Roth.

Homes built after 1978 are clear of lead paint, since it was banned that year.

But Shelton said too many homes in Cape Girardeau were built prior to 1978. "Surely we aren't talking about allowing any home built before 1978 to be checked for high levels of lead paint," he said.

Cape City Councilman Richard Eggimann believes it would be foolish to target old homes without considering how well they are kept. "I've lived in old homes my entire life and raised my children in an old home," he said. "Two of my children graduated magna cum laude and I'm sure there are several layers of lead paint on the walls of that home."

Said Michael Sterling, who is representing the Cape Girardeau chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, "When you talk about lead paint poisoning, you're basically talking about low-income families. Those are the homes where it's found the most. There aren't going to be that many children affected, but even if it's one, it's important enough to have an ordinance to make it illegal," he said.