Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 17, 1994                   TAG: 9403170072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                                LENGTH: Short

PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT TAINTED WITH LEAD PAINT

The city tested about 70 pieces of equipment and found that more than one-third exceeded the federal maximum of 0.5 percent lead, said Pat Kallaher, buildings and grounds superintendent for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

"I was surprised there was so much lead-based paint out there," Kallaher said Tuesday.

Lead-based paint, which is a source of lead poisoning, was banned in the United States in 1978. It can chip off and be swallowed by children or become airborne in particles that children inhale. Lead poses the greatest threat to children under age 7, because their bodies more readily absorb the toxic metal.

The soil around the playground equipment also is being tested for contamination, Kallaher said.

Despite the discovery, there's little risk of a child getting lead poisoning from the playgrounds, said Eileen Mannix, director of the state Health Department's Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

- Associated Press