Volker Neighborhood

LeadBusters info

Tips to Protect Children From Environmental Threats

Help children breathe easier
- Don’t smoke and don’t let others smoke in your home or car
- Keep your home as clean as possible. Dust, mold, certain household pests, secondhand smoke, and pet dander can trigger asthma attacks and allergies.
- Limit outdoor activity when air pollution is bad such as on ozone alert days


Protect children from lead poisoning
- Wash children’s hands before they eat and wash bottles, pacifiers, and toys often
- Wash floors and window sills to protect kids from dust and peeling paint
contaminated with lead—especially in older homes
- Run the cold water for 30 seconds to flush lead from pipes
- Get kids tested for lead—check with your doctor
- Test your home for lead paint hazards if it was built before 1978


Protect children from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning
- Have fuel-burning appliances, furnace flues and chimneys checked once a year
- Never use gas ovens or burners for heat and never use barbeques/ grills
indoors or in the garage
- Never sleep in rooms with unvented gas or kerosene space heaters
- Don’t run cars or lawnmowers in the garage
- Install a UL approved CO alarm in sleeping areas
- Keep pesticides and other toxic chemicals away from children
- Put food and trash away in closed containers to keep pests from coming
into your home
- Don’t use pesticides if you don’t have to—look for alternatives
- Read product labels and follow directions
- Use bait & traps instead of bug sprays when you can and place the bait & traps where kids can’t get them
- Store pesticides and toxic chemicals where kids can’t reach them and never put in other containers that kids can mistake for food or drink
- Keep children, toys & pets away when using pesticides and don’t let them play in fields, orchards and gardens after pesticides have been used
- Wash fruits and vegetables under running water before eating—peel them
when possible


Protect children from too much sun
- Have them wear hats, sunglasses, and protective clothing
- Use sunscreen on kids over 6 months and keep infants out of the sun
- Keep them out of the mid-day sun—the sun is most intense between 10 and 4
Safeguard them from high levels of radon
- Test your home for radon with a home test kit
- Fix your home if your radon level is 4 pCi/L or higher. If you need help,
call your state radon office or 1-800-644-6999


Protect children from contaminated fish and polluted water
- Call the local or state health department to learn about any local
advisories for limiting the amount of fish to be eaten or beach closings
- Take used motor oil to a recycling center and properly dispose of toxic
household chemicals
- Find out what’s in your local drinking water—call your local water system
for your annual drinking water quality report or, if you have a private home drinking water well, test it every year


Get involved
Call toll free 1-877-590-KIDS for more information or check out EPA’s web site.

Pesticides and Food: What You Need to Know

Pesticides are used to protect food from pests, such as insects, rodents, weeds, mold, and bacteria. While pesticides have important uses, studies show that some pesticides cause health problems at certain levels of exposure.
To protect your health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards on the amount of pesticides that may remain on food, if pesticides are applied.
The Food Quality Protection Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1996, now sets a tougher standard for pesticide use on food. EPA will consider the public's overall exposure to pesticides (through food, water, and in home
environments) when making decisions to set standards for pesticide use on food.
Infants and children may be more vulnerable to pesticide exposure. Most importantly, each of these decisions must protect infants and children, whose developing bodies may be especially
vulnerable to pesticide exposure:
- Since their internal organs are still developing and maturing, infants and children may be more vulnerable
to health risks posed by pesticides.
- In relation to their body weight, infants and children eat and drink more than adults, which may increase their
exposure to pesticides in food and water.
- Certain behaviors--such as playing on floors or lawns or putting objects in their mouths--increase a child's exposure to pesticides used in homes and yards. By 2006, EPA must review all old pesticides to make sure that their use on food meets the new, tougher safety standard. At the same time, the federal government is encouraging the innovation of safer pesticides that are less likely to cause health problems. You and your family have a right to know under the law that in certain cases, such as significant disruption of U.S. food production, a pesticide not meeting the safety standard may be authorized. If this happens, EPA will work with grocery stores to inform you of such pesticides, foods that might contain them, and equally nutritious alternatives.

Links

EPA's protect children Web site
EPA's pesticide right-to-know Web site