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Gasoline - Lead was banned from gasoline used in transportation in December, 1995.
Auto exhaust before the lead in gasoline reduction laws has added significant lead contamination to building exteriors and soil depending on how close the cars were. The federal Clean Air Act targeted lead in motor fuels and emissions from industrial activities. Consequently air emissions of lead have dropped nearly 90 percent during the last 20 years.
Paint - The Lead Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act of 1972 established a level of 0.5% lead for house paints. The final regulation in 1977 set the maximum allowable level at 0.06% (or 600 parts per million), effective in 1978 and banned the use of lead in consumer paints by 1978.
In 1978 the Consumer Product Safety Commission Exit Ecology banned most paints containing 0.06 percent or more lead. A 1993 CPSC study of consumer paint samples found that paints on the market meet the standard and are actually below the 0.06 percent level
Pipe and Plumbing Fixtures - The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Section 1417(a)(1) requires that after June 19, 1986 only "lead free" pipe, solder or flux may be used in the installation or repair of
(1) Public Water Systems, or
(2) any plumbing in residential or non-residential facility providing water for human consumption, which is connected to a Public Water System. Under section 1417(d), "lead free" as defined in the SDWA means that solders and flux may not contain more than 0.2 percent lead, and pipes, pipe fittings, and well pumps may not contain more than 8.0 percent lead.
A voluntary performance standard, NSF International's consensus Standard 61, (ANSI/NSF Standard 61: Drinking Water System Components-Health Effects), limits the leaching of lead into drinking water from faucets, fittings, fixtures, pipes and plumbing devices. The standard limits the amount of lead that can leach from a particular product. It does not specify the lead content in that product. Devices that are made of brass alloys that contain lead may be certified if they pass the performance test prescribed by the standard.
The law prohibits any person from introducing into commerce any pipe, or plumbing fitting or fixture that is not lead free after August 6, 1998, except for a pipe that is used in manufacturing or industrial processing.
The law does not make any distinction between the wholesale and retail sale or distribution from inventory of any pipe, or plumbing fitting or fixture, that is not lead free, after the deadline established by the SDWA.
An exception for industrial and manufacturing use applies where the water conveyed by the plumbing or distribution system is not used for human consumption