I scored big at a garage sale today. I got there just as they were ready to be done sitting in the front yard. They said I could have anything that was left for free. I grabbed anything I thought might be useful. This included an old dresser. My boys need a new dresser in their room, but I am concerned that this dresser might have lead based paint on it. I’ve found lead test kits online, but they cost almost $20 which defeats the purpose of acquiring a dresser for free. I could paint the whole thing with a sealant just to be sure, but I suspect that won’t be cheap either. So, what I’m fishing for here is advice. Does anyone have expertise on the subject of old painted dressers that they’d care to share with me?
EDIT 6/1/05: Thanks to everyone who had suggestions. My county health department had test kits for $2 each. I swabbed the dresser and it tested clean. As a bonus I have an extra test on hand for the next time I acquire old furniture for free.
Cheaper
Ask your Local or State health department if they have kits for home testing. I have heard that some states have them available just for the purpose of keeping kids safe.
Re: Cheaper
I figured I might as well check into this…
http://www.slvhealth.org/lfk/html/page8.html
Anyway, I would imagine that if there were free lead test kits to be had, then that page would have information. As it is, they suggest getting the kit from a hardware store. Still, though, it would be worthwhile to give the department a call and see what sort of resources they can give you, or tell you what kind of risk you’re at with the dresser.
(I don’t know if it’s easy to determine the date of manufacture, but there might be a manufacturer’s stamp on the back or bottom, and if it’s after 1978 it’s highly unlikely that it contains lead.)
This is a confusing topic, with some conflicting studies.
It’s worth noting that, 25 to 30 years ago, almost everybody had what we would now quickly proclaim as “dangerous levels” of lead. In other words, 88% of children tested between 1976 and 1980 had blood lead levels at or above 10 (micrograms per decaliter of blood).
Now, this number has dropped to somewhere around 2% — the official numbers range from about 1 to 4%, depending upon the study, but the consensus is 2.2%. And the average BLL of the child population in the US has dropped from about 14 to about 2.
Actual proper controlled studies involving humans are very controversial, and in many cases against the law. As one researcher put it: “Even after 50 years of research, it’s an extremely difficult problem.”
And before you get TOO alarmed about the paint issues — please read this and do a little looking around.
===|==============/ Level Head
Sand it down while wearing a surgical mask?
Outside, does no good if you still have the dust in the house, just a note.
Re: Cheaper
That is useful information. I’ve found a phone number, but they don’t answer it on weekends. I’ll call again on Monday.
As usual you provide a very thorough analysis, or links to one. That is information I had NEVER heard before. I’m still inclined to play things safe, but I’m far less concerned than I was. Thanks!
The basic idea used by EPA and CDC and others is this: “If large amounts of substance “x” are known to cause harm, then smaller amounts will cause the same harm.”
Generally, it is accepted that smaller amounts will cause a percentage of harm (or harm over time) related to its percentage of “known minimum harmful” amounts. So, if lead poisoning symptoms are known from 178 BLL, then 1.7 BLL is still causing one percent of the harm, or will do the same harm over 100 times as long of exposure.
This might be true, or might not — it has never been demonstrated. But if you apply the same logic to oxygen (which is toxic, of course) you would set about to eliminate ALL oxygen from the environment. ];-)
And water is especially deadly — again, in large doses.
Many items that are essential nutrients are toxic in larger doses; zinc will kill you if you take too much — or cost you your senses of taste and smell if you take too little.
Compare this cause of memory deficiency
with these symptoms.
The US’s “level of concern” for lead is far lower than Europe’s — but no one will go on record and suggest that any amount of lead is “safe”. Even if this is true, or could be.
Best wishes!
===|==============/ Level Head
To be honest, I wouldn’t worry about it. I doubt the little amount of lead that might be in the paint is going to cause any harm, unless your kids are likely to chew on their furniture! You could always give it a new coat of paint to be sure.
The crucial question is whether your children are young enough that they chew everything. If not, forget about it.
If at least one is still chewing the furniture (or another chewer is likely to appear), then I would test or assume the worst. My father had a fairly relaxed approach to risk (when I went camping or hiking he would reassure my mother “Don’t worry, if we lose this one, we’ve still got another one” — for some reason my mother was never very comforted by this!). Despite this, when he renovated a garden swing for my son, he made sure to strip it back to bare wood.
If you know anybody who works in a chemistry lab, you might be able to call in a few favours, and get them to identify the lead content. If not, I would not sand the paint off. First options is to use a paint stripper (Nitromors is the classic brand-name in the UK, but I would use an own brand from one of the DIY sheds). Second option is to scrape it off with a blow-torch or hot air gun.