Regulatory & Legal Considerations

General
The earliest lead artifacts date from about 6500 BC and lead's toxic effects have been known or suspected for almost as long. However, with no realistic alternatives, lead's unique chemical and physical properties coupled with its inexpensive availability, combined to prevent any meaningful regulation of its use until fairly recently. Banning lead as an additive to gasoline and paint, as well as the recycling of automobile batteries, has increased concern about lead as a significant public health problem. Evidence regarding adverse health effects at successively lower levels of lead exposure has led to downward revision of criteria for acceptable blood-lead concentrations.

Current Status
Lead is ranked number one on the U.S. EPA's Top 20 Hazardous Substances Priority List. EPA has listed lead (EPA Toxic Chemical List CAS No. 7439-92-1) as a toxic chemical and set very restrictive threshold limits for concentrations in air, soil, water, and vegetation. EPA has now designated 10 mg/dL as a maximum target blood level for regulatory development and enforcement/clean-up purposes. Disposal of lead-contaminated soil or waste that contains lead (both now classified as a hazardous-waste in concentrations at or above the EPA limit of 5mg/L) is extremely expensive. In accordance with the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) land disposal restrictions, lead-contaminated soil must be placed in a hazardous waste landfill.

EPA Lead Standard limits lead in drinking water to 0.015 mg/L and currently requires 79,000 public water suppliers to monitor lead levels at household taps. It has set a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal of 0.00 mg/L for drinking water. The 1988 Lead Contamination Control Act mandated the removal of water coolers containing lead liners or lead solder. The Consumer Products Safety Commission limits lead in paints to 0.06%. EPA limits lead in unleaded gasoline to 0.05 g/gal, thereby limiting exposure to airborne lead where the limit is currently set at 1.5 microg/cc of air over 3 months for the public. OSHA establishes maximum exposure levels for lead in the workplace.