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FIRST ON FOX: The Trump administration is ramping up its response to children’s lead exposure, introducing new EPA tools for public education while pushing states to use previously unused lead reduction funds, Fox News Digital has learned.
“There is no safe level of lead exposure, and it is well documented that children are vulnerable to the dangers of lead. We have made great progress over the decades in reducing children’s exposure to lead, but there is still much work to be done,” Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Deputy Administrator David Fotouhi told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview.
The EPA is updating its website and launching a new news mapping tool aimed at making important information about the dangers of lead exposure easier for the public to access. The move comes as the agency shifts funding to high-impact efforts and increases pressure on states to address the risks of contagion.
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The EPA is revamping its website and launching a new news mapping tool that makes critical information about the dangers of lead exposure easier for the public to access. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)
Lead can often be found in paint, house dust, drinking water, air and soil. The new tools will provide information to the public about current prevention regulations.
“We also use our rules when it comes to the lead law for renovation and painting. This comes when you have old houses, 1978 and older. They are the ones who are likely to have lead at home, in the paint,” said Fotouhi. “When those homes are being renovated, it’s important that people follow our standards to ensure the safety of any children living in that home during the renovation.”
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There are 4 million main service lines that carry drinking water to homes. (Stock)
The agency announced $3 billion in new funding for states to reduce lead in drinking water while reallocating $1.1 billion in unused funding. Fotouhi explained to Fox News Digital that previous federal dollars to prevent lead poisoning and replace service lines remain unused in several states.
“We are very focused on making sure that the states that received funding in the past use that money properly,” said Fotouhi. “We’ve had a lot of cases where states have received funding from the EPA to take over lead lines but they didn’t take them and they used those funds to do that work.”
There are 4 million lead service lines that carry drinking water to homes, according to the EPA’s 2025 report.
The EPA’s broad campaign to prevent lead poisoning included $26 million for states and territories last year to address lead in drinking water in schools and child care centers, underscoring the administration’s focus on the dangers of children’s exposure.
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Make America Healthy Again hats are presented at a news conference on removing artificial dyes from the American diet, at the Center for Health and Human Services in Washington, DC on April 22, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
A senior leadership committee was re-established in 2025 across the agency’s program offices and 10 regions as part of an EPA-wide effort to reduce children’s exposure to lead.
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“This is federal, this is a valuable federal grant. It’s specifically designed to reduce the risk to people’s health from lead exposure, and the states need to do their job here and use that money appropriately,” said Fotouhi.
The administration has made children’s health a top priority working together, HHS is helping advance the White House’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, which focuses in part on childhood chronic diseases and environmental toxins.
