VIDA
Vida is a science-based, virtual toolbox with nearly 300 lead risk factors, 100 everyday items you can test for lead and almost 200 actions to get rid of lead sources. For most families, just a few of those risk factors, items and actions matter. Vida gives personalized information that gets a family quickly to the actions that matter most for their home.
Parents can take a risk quiz and then choose the high-risk items in the home they'd like to test. Vida’s partner laboratory sends a customized test kit. After testing, a family gets results along with action steps prioritized by the most serious test levels. Vida helps families protect children from lead exposures before they happen.
Facts
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No amount of lead is safe, at any age. 535,000 children in the U.S. have high lead levels in their blood.
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Children are exposed from paint in older homes; old water pipes; some imported toys, spices, and foods; and many other sources both indoors and outdoors.
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Even low lead levels in blood have been shown to affect IQ, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement. The effects of lead exposure cannot be corrected.
Quick Tips
Take your shoes off at the door.
Every time you walk in from outside, you track a little bit of soil lead pollution into your home. One study found pollution levels 46 percent lower on floors where families take shoes off at the door.
Don't paint or renovate an older home when you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy.
In an older home (pre-1978), lead paint is a risk. Home repairs like sanding or scraping paint can produce dangerous lead dust. Pregnant women and children should not be in the house while someone is renovating, remodeling, or painting a room with lead paint, or cleaning up afterwards.
Clean your home every week to get rid of dust and lead pollution.
House dust is a source of lead for children – it sticks to their skin and hands, and gets into their mouths. Pick up paint chips with a wet paper towel whenever you see them, wet mop your floors, dust with a microfiber or damp cloth, and vacuum with a HEPA vacuum cleaner if possible. In older homes with lead paint, get chipping and peeling paint fixed by a lead-safe certified contractor.
Test your home for lead with HBBF’s Vida toolkit.
Any family can test their home for lead. You can test paint, dust, food, spices, toys and other common sources at TestMyHomeforLead.org.
Ask your doctor to test your child’s blood for lead.
Any child can have high blood lead levels. You have to test to know. Healthcare providers normally do screen for blood lead levels when a child is between 12 and 24 months old.
