Professional contractors specializing in home renovation projects such as painting and repairs will have to meet more stringent guidelines when working on older homes or buildings frequented by children.

The Environmental Protectioin Agency has been discussing the possibility of a new rule regarding buildings that use lead-based paint since 1996 and a rep for the organization says the agency has been "actively engaged" in researching the matter since. The EPA is trying to protect children from potential health risks associated with lead-based paint, and will require the aforementioned contractors to adhere to measures that avoid creating and spreading lead dust. It is estimated that approximately 38 million homes in the U.S. use at least some lead paint. The EPA say it will about $35 per home project to follow the new rule, which will be effective in April 2010.

Despite the rule change, some critics like Patrick MacRoy from the Alliance for Healthy Homes, are blasting the EPA, saying these efforts aren't enough to keep kids safe and that the policies surrounding lead paint should be much tougher because there is no guarantee homes are safe even after work is completed.

"After 16 years of waiting for this rule, I think we expected the rule to be stronger," MacRoy said in a telephone interview. "The clearest problem with the rule is the lack of a method to determine that homes are safe after the work is done."

Typically the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires contractors to gain clearance after removing lead from buildings and take a sample of lead dust to be analyzed to determine how much is left behind. Under the new EPA rule, the clearance can be conducted by the same person that removes the lead by wiping a wet cloth on surfaces in a building and comparing it to an EPA-provided card to determine if the cloth is as white as the card.

» Reuters Environment