Consumer Alert: Lead Paint Screening
Commissioner Miller is alerting parents that federal law
requires that assessment of and testing for risk of exposure to lead for
children must be covered by insurance as preventive services, with no cost to
Federal law follows the American Academy of Pediatrics’
(AAP) Bright Futures guidelines for infants, children, and adolescents in
setting the guidelines for lead risk assessment and testing.
These guidelines call for assessing whether a child is at
risk of lead exposure, and testing if the child is found to be at risk, at 6,
9, 12, and 18 months of age, and then at ages 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Children can be exposed to lead from lead-based paint, used
in older homes before lead-based paint was banned in the United States in 1978,
or from lead in water due to leaching from old lead pipes.
In children, low levels of exposure have been linked to
damage to the central and peripheral nervous system, learning disabilities,
shorter stature, impaired hearing, and impaired formation and function of blood
cells, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
More information on AAP guidelines for lead testing is