By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Columnist

Among the major concerns for homeowners who are remodeling or the owners of older public buildings is the use of paints containing significant amounts of lead, which can be toxic, particularly to children.

At the site of a recent Kaua'i school fire, workers in hazardous materials suits walked among the threats of old lead-based paint and asbestos.

Not all older homes have lead paint, but the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that three-quarters of those built before 1978 do. Their hazards, while potentially a problem for adults, are a particular issue for kids, who often chew on things.

But lead can affect species other than humans. At Midway Atoll, the site of a former Navy base and now a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service refuge, researchers have found an unexpected effect of lead paint.

Some Laysan albatross chicks, hatched on the atoll by the tens of thousands each year, are suffering health problems and some of them are dying, apparently as the result of contamination by flecks of old paint, according to researchers from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

The findings will be reported in the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology.

Earlier studies showed that most of Midway's buildings contained lead-based paint, and although the buildings were scraped and repainted with non-lead-based paint, evidence points to continued presence of lead in the environment, said one of the paper's authors, Myra Finkelstein, who is working toward a doctorate in environmental toxicology at Santa Cruz.

Young birds have been found with a condition called droopwing, also known as peripheral neuropathy, a "classic symptom of very high lead exposure in many species, including humans," Finkelstein said.

Tests showed that birds with the condition also had severe lead poisoning. Finkelstein said they got the lead into their systems by eating paint chips around their nests, or picking at paint directly from buildings. Studies of the isotopes of lead in the birds' systems matched the lead found in building paint.

The researchers studied only a couple dozen birds, but suggested many chicks whose nests are near old buildings could be at risk.

The albatross research points up one of the threats from older homes. More information on lead poisoning is available at the EPA Web site.

Jan TenBruggencate is The Advertiser's Kaua'i bureau chief and its science and environment writer. Contact him at (808) 245-3074 or e-mail jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.