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Here are some common questions that people in Omaha ask us about lead. Please contact us if you have other questions that you do not see answered here or on our website.

1. How do I know if my house has lead in it?
An estimated 83,000 homes in Omaha have paint in them. Lead paint was not banned in the U.S. for residential use until 1978, so homes built before then are likely to contain lead paint. To be sure, Omaha has a number of programs to assist you in screening your own home for lead. All of the programs in Omaha listed here can be contacted by calling the Omaha Lead Hotline at 1-877-LEAD-411.

City Planning Lead Hazard Control Program. If you qualify for their services (usually based on income) they will perform a free risk-assessment on your home and you may even qualify for free services to fix the problems.
Douglas County Health Department Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. They also have services to determine where lead risks are in your home. Eligibility is usually determined by the ages of the children in your home or if you are pregnant.
Environmental Protection Agency. For many homes in East Omaha, the EPA has a program to test yards, exterior paint and interior dust.
Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance. We have are distributing free home dust-testing kits to anyone who is concerned about lead in their home. The kits are analyzed in a lab and then the results are mailed back to you.

2. What do I do if my house has lead in it?
If it is determined that there is lead in your home that may be posing a risk to you and your family, there are a number of ways to protect yourself. Lead paint that is in good condition, i.e. not chipping or peeling or cracking, is usually not harmful. However, if you have chipping lead paint, the dust from that paint can be hazardous. If you are going to hire someone to perform the work, please consult our list of trained contractors (link to our site) or call the City Planning Department for more information. If you will doing the work yourself, the City can help you by giving you materials to read and watch to keep yourself lead-safe.

3. What about the water in my home?
Lead from lead pipes can also contaminate water in homes. Click here to see MUD’s statement on safe water in Omaha.
If you have lead pipes in your home, it is likely that limestone build up has coated the pipes well enough to protect you from lead. However, it may be wise for you to install a filter on the faucet, run the water for 60 seconds before using, or replace the lead pipes altogether.

4. I have heard about lead in the soil in Omaha. Is there lead in our soil?
Lead in soil in some parts of Omaha is of concern as a result of industrial emissions and paint in older homes. The best way to protect yourself is by keeping bare soil covered, gardening in pots or fresh, safe soil, taking your shoes off when entering your home, keeping kids from eating dirt and having them wash their hands after playing in the yard. Usually the highest concentrations of lead in soil are found around the area called the drip zone of the yard (within 3 feet of the parameter of the house). We advise being especially careful when planting edible gardens in this area. For more information the UNL Extension Office (http://douglas-sarpy.unl.edu/eh/indoor_lead.shtml) in Omaha has a lead-safe landscaping program. You can also contact the EPA information centers to find out more about lead in your yard.

5. My neighbor’s yard was removed by mine was not, why?
The EPA’s yard removal program is targeting homes with a certain level of lead that the EPA believes poses the greatest risk to children. Contact them directly if you have questions about your yard.

6. How do I get my child tested to see if she/he has lead poisoning?
Your doctor can perform a lead test on your child. If you do not have a doctor, contact the Douglas County Health Department.

7. How can I tell if my child has lead poisoning?
People with high levels of lead in their bodies often do not seem sick. The symptoms that occur are very general and can happen for many reasons. Your local public health clinic or family doctor can do a simple blood test to find out if there is too much lead in the blood. This blood test involves taking a sample of blood from your child's finger or a vein in the arm. If the blood sample shows a problem with lead, more testing will be done.
Adults who think they may have been exposed to too much lead should also be tested.

8. How can I test my toys for lead?
The only way to be absolutely sure if your toys have lead in them is by a lab analysis or by using a special machine called an XRF that is specifically calibrated for plastic or metal. It is recommended that only this form of testing be used on toys. Home testing kits are not found to be very accurate for testing lead in plastic toys.
Please visit these websites for more information.
factsheet-toysleadexposure.pdf
factsheet-leadtestconprod.pdf

9. Which toys have been recalled?
Click here for the list of toys that have been recalled.

10. What happens if my child has lead poisoning?
Lead poisoning can harm a child’s nervous system and brain when they are still developing. Lead can cause iron levels in the blood to become low resulting in anemia. Small amounts of lead in the body can make it hard for children to learn, pay attention, and succeed in school. Higher amounts of lead exposure can damage the nervous system, kidneys, and other major organs. Very high exposure can lead to seizures or death.

11. What are the most common ways children get lead poisoning?
The most common source of lead poisoning is from dust from chipping and peeling paint in older homes. Areas in the home where children are most often exposed to lead dust are window sills, window troughs, door ways and porches. Lead dust on floors from paint and soil is also a source for younger children who tend to crawl around and then out their hands in their mouths. Other sources of lead include soil, toys and costume jewelry, imported candies and imported pottery.

12. Why should we even be concerned about lead poisoning? Isn’t the problem mostly going away?
While lead levels in the U.S. have seen significant decline since lead has been taken out of our environment (for example, lead being taken out of gas), lead is still the number one environmental hazard to children and lead poisoning is a preventable disease. Recent research shows that low levels of lead exposure can lead to ADHD. low test scores and criminal activity later in life.

13. I have heard that vinyl min-blinds contain lead. Is this true?
Yes, some imported mini-blinds do contain lead. Click here for more information.
www.pvcfree.org

14. Why is diet important in preventing lead poisoning?
A good diet can help prevent lead from being absorbed into your child’s body. These suggestions provide your child with a healthy diet:

Eat regular meals (four to six times a day).
Eat calcium-rich foods (cheese, milk, spinach, salmon, yogurt, tofu, and leafy greens).
Eat iron-rich foods (lean red meat, chicken or turkey without skin, raisins, beans, oatmeal, and split peas).
Eat vitamin C to help the body absorb iron (fruit juice, oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, broccoli, kiwi, and strawberries).
Reduce bad fatty foods such as fried foods, fast foods, and “junk” foods.