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1
october 2007
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Why are our
children still
threatened by
this avoidable
poison?
page 18
LEADs
painful legacy G
iven that Greek physicians
diagnosed lead poisoning
2,000 years ago, it seems
inconceivable that we could still be
grappling with this issue today. But
as Benjamin Franklin, who was well
aware of leads dangers from working
in a print shop, astutely pointed
out in 1786: You will observe with
concern how long a useful truth may
be known and exist, before it may
be received and practiced on.
Franklins famous cynicism was
well deserved in this case. By 1922,
many European nations had banned
lead paint. But thanks to decades
of opposition from the paint and
lead industries, lawmakers in the
United States didnt outlaw the toxic
substance for residential use until
1978. Today, 38 million homes still
contain lead paint, and its esti-
mated that 24 million of those have
dangerous levels.
Every lead-painted wall contains
an invisible poison, easily unleashed
by scraping, sanding or melting
the surface common techniques
in many home renovations. While
very high levels of lead can pose a
danger to adults, the most suscep-
tible victims are children. The blood
brain barrier, which blocks toxins
such as lead, becomes fully effec-
tive around age 6, but by then its
too late. It only takes a microscopic
amount of lead dust on the oor or
carpet to pose a danger to young
children crawling, thumb-
sucking and dragging their blankets.
The damage might not be diagnosed
for weeks or months if ever.
People tend to think its kids
eating paint chips, and thats not
the only way it works, says Tom
Neltner, director of training and
2

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October 2007
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3

38%
of Angies List Quick
Poll respondents* dont
know if their home
contains lead paint.
Why are our children still threatened
by this avoidable poison?
By Paul F. P. Pogue
An obligation to inform
Bill Oesterle, CEO of Angies List, considered himself
well versed on lead-safe practices and had gone
through several old home remodels. Hed even had his
two oldest children tested on more than one occasion.
Nothing was ever amiss. But, precisely because of that,
Oesterle fears he became desensitized. Then, even
after his doctor told him there was nothing to worry about, lead dust from a remodeling job
in 2000 poisoned his youngest daughter, Emma, who was 2 at the time.
Q: Whats been the long-term effect on your daughter?
A:
Thats the cruelest part of lead poisoning: Its impossible to measure the effects. Whether
coincidentally or not, she has some learning disabilities. So the burden I have to carry for
the rest of my life is wondering whether those were caused by lead poisoning.
Q: How has this experience changed you?
A:
Its left me with an obligation to inform. Theres this myth going around that I founded
Angies List to get back at contractors because of this incident with Emma. That couldnt
be further from the truth. Our job is not to vilify service companies; its to educate them as
much as possible. The image people have of lead exposure is inner-city kids eating paint
chips in crumbling old buildings, but that isnt the only reality. Its also a big problem in af uent
neighborhoods, particularly where people are actively rehabilitating old homes. So, we have
to construct a set of lead-safe practices that allows us to do that. Our investigation suggests
that many service companies and homeowners arent aware of what those are. We want to
change that.
Q: What is Angies List doing to raise awareness about this issue?
A:
Were in a unique position to educate both service companies and the public. To that end,
weve already kicked off a national Angies List Lead Safety Tour, in which were providing
training to service companies and DIYers, an informational seminar for homeowners as well
as blood lead level testing of children and lead-level testing of toys and other products. Were
also going to be reminding homeowners checking the List to look for lead-safe contractors,
nding out if contractors on the List are trained in lead-safe work practices and providing
those who are with a special designation. To help get the word out, weve created a website,
leadsafety.angieslist.com, and well be training our call-center team so they can share lead
safety information with members looking for painters, remodelers and the like. This is an
avoidable situation, and education is truly our greatest weapon.
5,576 Angies List members took our Quick Poll. Responses are representative of our members but not the general public. 4

Angies List
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October 2007
education for the National Center
for Healthy Housing.
It takes very little lead dust to
pose a danger to children. The
Environmental Protection Agency
de nes the hazard level of lead, on
oors anyway, as 40 micrograms
per square meter. Thats one gram
spread over 25,000 square feet,
Neltner says. Thats a sugar packet
spread over a third of a football eld.
If it was spread over TWO square
feet, youre still not going to see it.
Lead poisoning can be dif cult
to diagnose, adding further to its
invisibility. Most children with
elevated blood lead levels dont have
any symptoms, says Dr. Mary Jean
Brown, chief of the lead poisoning
prevention branch of the Centers for
Disease Control. If they do, theyre
crabby and tired and not eating right
and for many 2-year-olds, thats a
good day. A pediatrician confronted
with a child with lead poisoning is
not going to be able to differentiate.
The only way to know for sure if a
child has been lead poisoned is to test
his or her blood lead levels, which
can be done with a simple nger-
prick test at either a doctors of ce
or the local board of health. The
American Academy of Pediatrics
recommends all children be screened
for lead at ages 1 and 2. However,
even now only one in eight children
are tested. The CDC level of
concern the point at which
medical intervention and protective
action are warranted is 10
micrograms per deciliter. (Frequently
the terminology is abbreviated: A
BLL of 10.)
The effects of lead poisoning are
devastating to young bodies. The
body reacts to lead as if its calcium,
depositing the toxin on bones and
in the brain. This causes devel-
opmental delays, nervous system
damage, behavioral problems, atten-
tion de cit disorder and much more.
Studies show that even at very low
Many contractors
arent lead safe
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5
L
INDA
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NGIE S
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51%
of respondents live in a
home built prior to 1978.
In 2003, Indianapolis advocacy group
Improving Kids Environment began a secret
shopper program, visiting hardware stores
to test the knowledge of clerks and managers
about lead-safe work practices in the home.
Even when prompted with speci c questions
about lead paint, employees gave IKE rep-
resentatives dangerous advice roughly 50
percent of the time and did so again during
repeated tests in 2004 and 2005.
As a longtime Angies List member and
IKEs executive director, Janet McCabe had
more than once hired home contractors who
were ignorant about lead-safe work practices
and wondered how the home service indus-
try would fare if put to the secret shopper
test. To nd out, Angies List recently expand-
ed IKEs investigation to include remodelers,
painters and hardware stores across the
country.

Contacting 175 randomly selected
contractors and hardware stores in Boston,
Chicago, Denver, Miami, Philadelphia, San
Francisco and Seattle, we presented a
scenario in which we were renovating a 2-
year-old childs room in a 1920s house and
wanted to know about the proper methods
to strip paint, replace windows or knock
out walls. Our ndings were unsettling:
34
percent gave dangerous advice,
such as
suggesting we dry-scrape or use a heat gun.
Sixty percent gave correct advice, although
only half of them did so without being
prompted. The remaining 6 percent said they
werent sure about the lead paint dangers in
older homes.
Our Angies List Quick Poll revealed
other worrisome trends. The Environmental
Protection Agency requires contractors wholl
be disturbing more than 2 square feet of
paint to inform clients in pre-1978 housing of
potential lead hazards and provide them with
a pamphlet that explains the dangers and
how to protect themselves. But
85 percent
of Angies List poll respondents who live
in pre-1978 homes say contractors have
never offered them the pamphlet
, and
75
percent say theyve never been warned
about le