After years of reassuring worried parents that their children weren’t being exposed to hazardous lead,
the Wood County Health Department is discontinuing its lead inspection program.
Though lead paint has been outlawed for the past 30 years, children can still be at risk from the hidden
hazard in older homes or daycare facilities.
So, for years the health department sent a sanitarian to test homes or other buildings for lead. And
after the recent scare over toys with lead contamination from China, the health department tested for
free any toys brought to the agency.
However, it was recommended last week that the health department cease its lead inspection program for
the following reasons:
¥ The health department’s lead testing meter is aging and will no longer be operable by the end of the
year. The cost to replace it is $17,000, while the cost to maintain it is $4,000 every 15 to 17 months.

¥ The department sanitarian’s lead testing license expired last week. The cost for a two-year renewal is
$900. Plus that sanitarian, Ted Hartwell, is retiring at the end of the year and it is uncertain whether
the position will be filled.
¥ The majority of the lead testing assessments are conducted outside Wood County, in Seneca, Sandusky and
Ottawa counties.
¥ The Ohio Department of Health will pick up elevated blood level assessments in the county, and private
entities can be hired to conduct inspections.
Brad Espen, director of environmental services at the health department also explained that the lead
program currently has a deficit of $6,337.
"We’re continuing to lose money," Espen said .
"With the cost of equipment upgrades and the retirement of Ted Hartwell at the end of the year, we
feel that it would be the proper time to turn the program over to the Ohio Department of Health,"
he wrote in his recommendation to the board.
"The good news is we won’t be compromising services," Espen said. "They’ll just be offered
by someone else."
Children ages 6 years and younger are most at risk from lead because their bodies are still developing.
If they put toys, fingers or bottles in their mouths that are covered with lead dust, it can lead to
learning and behavioral problems. Affected children may have short attention spans, sleeping problems,
be irritable or have stomach aches. However, in many cases, there are no clear symptoms.
Some of the most serious lead poisoning comes from children spending time in buildings constructed before
lead paint was completely banned in 1978. Remodeling, repainting or refinishing old homes or furniture
may release lead into the air.
According to the health department, lead paint can still be found in nine out of 10 houses built before
1940, eight out of 10 houses built between 1940 and 1960, and six out of 10 houses built between 1960
and 1979.