Colorado's Choice for Lead Testing

At Fast Response Environmental, we specialize in lead pipe contamination testing and lead inspection to ensure the safety of your home or business. With state-of-the-art equipment and talented professionals, we deliver the testing services the Colorado community deserves.

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Thorough Lead Pipe Contamination Testing

Our professionals provide thorough lead testing services with precision and expertise. We understand the importance of this matter and ensure that our service is carried out by the highest experts in the field. With our experienced technicians and meticulous approach, you can rely on our accurate and reliable findings to safeguard your property against lead exposure.

What is Lead

Lead is a naturally occurring element found in small amounts in the earth’s crust. While it has some beneficial uses, it can be toxic to humans and animals, causing health effects.

Where is Lead Found

Lead can be found in various parts of our environment, including the air, soil, water, and even inside our homes. Much of our exposure to lead stems from human activities, such as the historical use of leaded gasoline, certain industrial facilities, and the past application of lead-based paint in residential buildings.

Human Activities and Sources of Lead

Lead and lead compounds have been utilized in a wide array of products commonly found in and around households. These products include paint, ceramics, pipes, plumbing materials, soldiers, gasoline, batteries, ammunition, and cosmetics. Both historical and current uses contribute to lead entering the environment.

Industrial Emissions and Contamination

Industrial emissions and contaminated sites, like former lead smelters, are primary sources of lead pollution in the environment. Activities such as mining, smelting, and refining have significantly raised lead levels, particularly in proximity to these sites. Natural soil lead levels usually range from 50 to 400 parts per million, but industrial activities have caused considerable spikes in lead concentrations.

Transportation and Movement in
the Environment

When lead is released into the air from industrial sources or vehicles, it can travel long distances before settling on the ground. Once deposited, lead often adheres to soil particles. Depending on the type of lead compound and soil characteristics, lead may also migrate from soil into groundwater.

Regulatory Standards and Control Measures

Federal and state regulatory standards play a crucial role in mitigating or eliminating lead exposure in various settings. These standards aim to minimize lead levels in air, drinking water, soil, consumer products, food, and occupational environments, thus safeguarding public health and environmental quality.

Who is at Risk?

Children

Lead poses a significant threat to children due to their bodies' increased absorption of lead compared to adults, coupled with the heightened vulnerability of their developing brains and nervous systems to its harmful effects. Additionally, infants and young children are at higher risk of lead exposure as they frequently put their hands and objects into their mouths, potentially coming into contact with lead-contaminated dust or soil. Children may also encounter lead through the consumption of food or water containing lead, using dishes or glasses with lead content, inhaling lead dust from lead-based paint or contaminated soil, or playing with toys painted with lead.

Adults, Including Pregnant Women

Adults may be exposed to lead through multiple routes, such as consuming lead-contaminated food or water, using dishes with lead content, or inhaling lead dust from deteriorating lead-based paint or during renovation work in older buildings. Occupations like stained-glass making and certain folk remedies containing lead can also increase exposure levels. Pregnant women's exposure to lead from these sources is especially concerning, as it can affect their developing baby.

Lead Exposure Data

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics monitors blood lead levels in the United States, providing information on the number of children with elevated blood lead levels and the number and percentage of children tested for lead in specific areas.

According to CDC

  • Prevention of lead exposure is crucial for parents, doctors, and others.
  • The threshold for concern regarding blood lead levels has been lowered to 5 micrograms per deciliter.
  • This threshold, based on the top 2.5% of children aged 1–5 years in the U.S., allows for earlier identification of lead exposure.
  • Early identification enables proactive measures to reduce future lead exposure for children.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) utilizes CDC data to illustrate trends in blood lead levels in children in America’s Children and the Environment.

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What are the Health Effects of Lead?

Lead has the potential to impact nearly every organ and system within your body. Children under the age of six are particularly vulnerable to the effects of lead.

Children

In children, the nervous system is the primary target for lead toxicity. Even minimal levels of lead in children's blood can lead to:

  • Permanent damage to the brain and nervous system, leading to behavior and learning problems, lower IQ, and hearing problems
  • Slowed Growth
  • Anemia

In rare cases, ingestion of lead can cause seizures, coma, and even death.

Pregnant Women

Lead accumulates in our bodies over time, often stored in bones alongside calcium. During pregnancy, maternal calcium is used for fetal bone formation, releasing stored lead. This process is heightened when a woman has low dietary calcium intake. Lead from the mother's bloodstream can also pass through the placenta to the developing fetus, potentially causing significant effects on both the pregnancy and the fetus, including:

  • Miscarriage
  • Reduced Fetal Growth and Premature Birth

Lead can also be transmitted through breast milk. Read more on lead exposure in pregnancy and lactating women (PDF) (302 pp, 4.2 MB, About PDF).

Find Out More

Adults

Lead is also harmful to other adults. Adults exposed to lead can suffer from:

  • Nervous System Effects
  • Cardiovascular effects, in increased blood pressure and incidence of hypertension
  • Decreased Kidney Function
  • Reproductive Problems (in Both Men and Women)
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Lower Your Chances of Exposure to Lead

Simple home maintenance can significantly reduce the risk of lead exposure. Follow these steps to safeguard your home and family:

Reach Out to Us

Trusting our dedicated team not only gets the job done effectively, but also provides you with peace of mind as we handle the burden for you. Get in touch now.