Indiana Lead-Safe & Healthy Homes Newsletter

Improving Kids’ Environment (IKE) and the Indiana Lead-Safe Task Force publish this newsletter every other month at no charge to anyone interested in issues and events involving lead poisoning prevention and healthy homes in Indiana.   It is distributed by email or fax – preferably by e-mail - at no charge.  We try to keep the newsletter to four pages.  Tom Neltner is the editor.  Please contact him at mccabe@ikecoalition.org or 317-442-3973 if you want to contribute articles, edit the draft newsletter, have an article to contribute, or want to get on or off the distribution list.  All editions are available on IKE’s web page at http://www.ikecoalition.org/publications.htm.   Version in Word

Mark Your Calendars

•     Thursday, March 6 - Indy.  We are flip-flopping the Lead-Safe Indiana Task Force and the ISDH Task Force meeting this time to see how it works.  All meetings will be at the Environmental Management Institute at 5610 Crawfordsville Road, Suite 15.  Please note the change.

•       ISDH Advisory Group – 10:00 to 12:00

•       Funding Workshop – 12:15 to 1:50

•      Lead-Safe Indiana Task Force - 2:00 to 3:30

•       Thursday, March 27 – Fort Wayne and Gary.  FREE Healthy Homes Satellite Videoconference will be held from 2:00 to 4:00 EST in two places in Indiana.  The videoconference covers lead, mold, asthma and integrated pest management.

•       Fort Wayne Purdue Extension Allen County Office, 4001 Crescent Ave.  Contact Tina Leatherman at 260-341-6690.

•       Indiana University Northwest in the Library Conference Center Room 110 at 35th and Adams from 1:00-3:00 CST Contact Sr. Annemarie Kampwerth at 219-397-4335

•       Saturday, May 3 – Indy.  Steve Ambro is coordinating a workshop called “Mold:  The Growing Threat to Real Estate.”  The workshop will be held at the Marten House – 1801 W. 86^th St..  Jeffrey May will be the featured speaker.  He is the author of "My House is killing Me!  The Home Guide for Families with Allergies and Asthma".  A $125 fee for the workshop includes lunch and a copy of the book.   Contact Steve Ambro or Don Osborne at 317-784-9892 for details.

•       May 13 to 16 – New Orleans.  The Indoor Environmental Health & Technologies Conference is an outgrowth of the National Lead Safe Housing and Indoor Environmental Health Conference which began in 1996.  For information on the conference go to www.leadmoldconferences.com.  For scholarship information, call 1.800.590.6522 and ask for Kim Levi.

•      May 27 to 30 – Indy.  Lead Supervisor course at the Environmental Management Institute.  Contact Joan Ketterman at 800-488-8842.

•       June 23 to 27 – Indy.  Lead Inspector and Risk Assessor courses.  at the Environmental Management Institute.  Contact Joan Ketterman at 800-488-8842.

•       October 9 to 11 – Evansville.  The City of Evansville will be holding its 2003 Regional Neighborhood Network conference.  Contact 812-426-7823 for more information.

•       October 15 & 16 – 2003 Indiana Lead-Safe and Healthy Homes Conference.  By popular demand, we are expanding our focus to include more healthy homes topics.  The rates, schedule and format will stay the same as 2002. 

Revising the Licensing Rules – The Home Stretch  

IDEM plans to present a revised draft lead rule to the Air Pollution Control Board on March 5.  Assuming the Board preliminarily adopts the revised rule, IDEM hopes to publish the rule in the April 1 Indiana Register for a final 21-day comment period.  The final rule should be presented to the Board on either June 4 or July 8. 

IDEM has been outstanding in working with stakeholders to better understand their concerns.  Instead of shortcutting these discussions to meet the July 1 statutory deadlines, it is taking time to improve the entire rule.  Specifically, IDEM:

• Listened to comments at a breakout session at the conference on November 5;

• Met with stakeholders on December 2 to respond to questions.

• Discussed the options at the December 4 Task Force meeting; and

• Met with stakeholders again on January 31. 

By March 10, IKE should have copies of IDEM’s response to comments and revisions to the draft rule.  Please contact Tom Neltner if you want a copy. 

Grants Workshop on March 6 from 12:30 to 2:00

Funding continues to be a struggle for lead poisoning prevention programs in Indiana.  For us to succeed, we need to leverage more money.  On March 6 – between the ISDH Advisory Group and the Lead-Safe Indiana Task Force meetings, we will hold a grants workshop to discuss grant-funding options.  We will order in pizza for the lunchtime meeting.   We anticipate:

• IDEM Mini-Grants - The request for proposals for this second round will be out shortly.  IDEM will be on–hand to explain the program in more depth.

• IHFA Home Grants – The Indiana Housing Finance Authority has made the Lead-Safe Indiana Conference successful.  It has also enabled the Task Force to get the word out and publish this newsletter.  We will discuss the funding criteria for IHFA’s HOME program and how it might support your efforts.

• HUD Healthy Homes and Lead-Hazard Control – In June, HUD is anticipated to be accepting applications for Lead-Hazard Control Grants and Healthy Homes Demonstration Grants.  We will discuss the ideas and options and evaluate Indy’s successful application from 2002.  

• Local Foundations – Several communities have had success with local foundations.  We will discuss how they get the attention of the foundation – and the funding.

CDC Funding for ISDH and . . .

Five counties - Allen, Marion, St. Joe, Vanderburgh and Lake - are currently working collectively with ISDH to apply for the latest round of CDC lead poisoning prevention grant funding.  CDC guidelines put a premium on focusing on a few larger cities.  The grant is due by March 24, 2003.   In the past, both ISDH and Marion County Health Department were funded directly by CDC.   New CDC rules require that the funds go through the state.  Hopefully ISDH and the local health department’s hard work will pay off. 

Medicaid

We are still working to schedule a meeting with Secretary Hamilton to discuss Medicaid issues.  The goal is to improve Indiana’s compliance with Medicaid requirements and to help prevent lead poisoning.  Medicaid children are at extremely high risk for getting lead poisoning.

State Building Commission

At the conference, many people suggested that the Task Force get the State Building Commission’s support in getting local building permit programs to ensure that contractors use lead-safe work practices and avoid the practices prohibited by HEA-1171.  Tom Neltner has tried to contact them to no avail.  Please contact him if you have any ideas how to get the attention of the State Building Commission.

Adult Blood Lead Evaluation System (ABLES) Legislation

Two state legislators have introduced legislation that would require labs to report ALL blood lead test results to ISDH.  Rep. Dennis Avery of Evansville introduced HB-1856 and Senator Pat Miller of Indy introduced SB-367.

Senator Miller heard the bill at her Health and Provider Services Committee on January 19.  The Indiana Chamber of Commerce and Indiana Manufacturers Association raised concerns about OSHA’s enforcement and confidentiality.  These concerns have been addressed through two subsequent meetings with stakeholders.  Hopefully, Senator Miller will have the committee vote of the compromise soon.

These bills would fill a gap in the current blood lead surveillance system.  Thanks to Rep. Avery’s HEA-1171, labs are already required – beginning July 1, 2003 – to submit this information for children younger than 6.   This requirement would allow Indiana to join 35 other states and participate in CDC’s ABLES program.   Indiana would also qualify for a $24,500 annual grant from CDC.

More importantly, the requirement would give ISDH and local health departments the opportunity to investigate adult lead poisoning cases to ensure that the adults and their families are protected from lead poisoning.   See article below for related story on adult’s carrying home lead dust and poisoning children.

For more information on CDC’s ABLES program, see CDC’s summary of data collected from 25 states between 1998 and 2001.  The report was published in the December 13, 2002 edition of the Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report.

Lead Poisoning Around the State

We learn from each other.  Sharing ideas and experiences is critical.  Here are a couple of stories worth considering:

·     Beware of Reusing Carpeting and Furniture: We usually assume that homes built after 1978 do not contain lead-based paint.  You know the story about assumptions.  The Monroe County Lead-Safe Coalition learned from the health department’s Simeon Baker that a child was lead poisoned from lead dust in old carpeting.  The carpeting was given to the family from St. Vincent DePaul. 

Tom Neltner contacted in the Indy office of St. Vincent DePaul.  He toured their facility and checked the carpeting.  It contained some lead but not much.  He found a child’s dresser with chipping lead-based paint on it.  After discussing the situation, Jake Asher decided not to accept any more old carpeting.  He also agreed to contact the Marion County Health Department when he got old painted furniture in so it can be checked.  Contact Mr. Asher at 317-353-0548.

Please work with your local organizations that reuse old furniture and carpeting to avoid spreading lead dust.

·        Lead Jackets on Kids:  Nicole Gaunt of Fort Wayne – Allen County Health Department was investigating am autistic, lead poisoned, four-year old child.  The child’s mom showed Nicole a “lead vest” that the local school district used to help her with aggressiveness and hyperactivity.  You guessed it.  Nicole found little pellets in the front pocket of the vest that left a grey residue on her fingertips.  The pellets registered 56 on the XRF.   The school district pulled all lead vests and 50-60 kids are preparing to have lead tests done.  She has contacted the four surrounding school systems.  Please check with your school districts.   Contact Nicole Gaunt at 260-449-7108 for more details.

·      Taking Lead Home from Work:  Nicole Gaunt also found four children who were more likely lead poisoned from lead dust their parents took home from three local companies that included a stained glass company and a foundry.   The OSHA regulations focus on dust in the air not dust that may have been brought home on clothing.   Nicole has referred the cases to IOSHA for investigation.

While lead-based paint in the home is by far the most likely source of poisoning, we need to always consider exposures to lead dust from construction workers – especially windows, painters, and remodellers – and workers in industries that handle lead.  According to ISDH, between 1991 and 2001,1438 environmental investigations were done for the children with elevated blood lead level in Indiana.  531 cases indicated that the lead hazard might have been brought home from work.  The lead hazard was confirmed in 38 cases.  

·       Rehabbing an Old School:  Tom Neltner provided training for participants from an Indy community group to sample for environmental hazards such as cockroaches, carbon monoxide, radon, and lead dust.  The goal of the training is to empower residents to find and address hazards in their community. 

      He conducted the training in an old public school building that had just been renovated.  The building will be used for pre-school and summer school activities.  As part of the training, students used LeadCheck swabs to do a quick check for lead dust.  The students kept coming back with positive readings.  Later, the students took dust wipes samples per EPA’s procedures.  He sent the samples to the lab and all of the floor and all but one of the window sill samples came back with levels over EPA standards.  One floor sample was 830 ug/ft².

      Tom Neltner is working with the building management and the contractor to resolve the issue.  He also referred the case to IDEM and IOSHA for investigation.  Please remember to look at child-occupied facilities in addition to targeted housing when dealing with lead-based paint.  The work practice requirements of HEA-1171 apply to both types of buildings.

IDEM has wrapped up the investigation.  Unless their inspectors actually see the violation, they do not believe they have a strong enough case for enforcement.  If you encounter this situation, take photos and call IDEM immediately.  IOSHA is still investigating. 

Licensing Home Inspectors

Rep. Peggy Welch of Bloomington has introduced HB-1515.  The bill would set up a licensing program for home inspectors.  Unlike 25 other states, Indiana does not require licensing for home inspectors although some cities such as Evansville do. 

On February 4, her bill passed out of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee.  IKE’s Tom Neltner spoke in favor of the bill and asked that the bill require home inspectors to make it clear that their inspections do not address environmental hazards such as lead, asbestos, radon, cockroaches and mold.  Reportedly, some Indiana home inspectors have been checking for lead with a LeadCheck swab and telling the potential home buyer that the home does not have lead-based paint.  These efforts complement our efforts to make sure that the revised lead-based paint licensing rules prohibit this type of fraudulent activities when the inspector is being compensated. 

Congratulations

•    Dr. Jacob of Notre Dame - Received the United States Professor of the Year Award in December. His work to get students involved in the community investigating lead hazards helped contribute to the award.

•      Greentree Environmental – They have an Indy office now to complement their Portage home office.  Call them at 877-476-8733.

Thanks for improving kids' environment!   If you have any questions or comments about this newsletter, IKE, or the Indiana Lead-Safe Task Force, contact Tom Neltner at mccabe@ikecoalition.org, 317-442-3973 or 5244 Carrollton Avenue, Indianapolis, IN  46202-3181.  If you need more information on national events, check out the Alliance Alert Newsletter at www.aeclp.org and click on newsletter.  You can also get on the “leadnet” listserver operated by the Alliance.  Send an email to “Leadnet-on@mail-list.com” to get on that listserve.

This newsletter was produced with the assistance of IHFA through federal funds made available by IHFA under the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, as amended, using HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Please let us know if you do not want to receive this newsletter.  You may get enough emails and faxes already.  We do not want to add to the burden if you are not interested in receiving the materials. 

IKE publishes two additional newsletters on a quarterly basis.  Let Tom Neltner at mccabe@ikecoalition.org know if you want to get copies of either of those newsletters.

•       “Sewage in Our Streams” newsletter on behalf of the Indiana Clean Water Coalition.  This newsletter deals with issues and events that directly relate to sewer overflows, sewer management and septic systems.

•       “Improving Kids’ Environment” newsletter.  This newsletter deals with all issues and events IKE is involved in.  To avoid duplication, topics dealt with in this newsletter or the “Sewage in Our Streams” newsletter are only briefly mentioned.