MEXICO — Local health officials this week will teach a course designed to help landlords and contractors safely repair and renovate buildings that contain lead-based paint.

The only problem is, the landlords — who reportedly are afraid they’ll be forced to make costly renovations to their buildings — aren’t lining up to take the course.

“It’s difficult to get a big group,” said Sandra Witas, project coordinator at River Valley Healthy Community Coalition, which has run the federally mandated Renovation, Repair and Paint Course for the past two years. “We tried to target the landlords, but they’re always fearful that they’re going to be asked to renovate their apartments.”

As of Tuesday morning, Witas expected 10 people to take the course, which costs $25 and will run from 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Thursday at the Mexico Town Office. The course is open to a maximum of 20 participants.

The RRP course is required by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule, which went into effect in April 2010. According to the rule, landlords and contractors must be certified by the EPA if they plan to renovate, repair or paint pre-1978 homes, child care facilities or schools. Lead was banned from all household paints in 1978.

Signing up for the course does not obligate a landlord to make any renovations or repairs to their pre-1978 buildings, Witas said.

“Just because you have an apartment building or a home that you’re renting with lead in it does not mean there needs to be abatement,” Witas said. “As long as there are best practices that are followed, living in a home with lead doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as long as you’re aware of it and you deal with it properly.”

The RRP course is designed to teach landlords and contractors how to follow those best practices when they work on a building with lead-based paint. The course, which will be taught by an official from the Maine Labor Group on Health, will teach participants about the procedures and equipment required to minimize the spread of toxic lead paint dust during renovations and repairs.

Dust and paint chips are the primary vectors of lead poisoning, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. In many cases, young children swallow lead dust as they play, eat, or engage in other hand-to-mouth activities. More than 50 percent of Maine homes may have lead-based paint, and lead paint is especially common in homes built before 1950, according to the DEP.

Prolonged exposure to lead can cause a host of health issues, especially for children under the age of six, whose brains and nervous systems are in critical stages of development. If exposed to lead at an early age, children may experience a reduced IQ, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. In adults, low-level lead exposure can cause high blood pressure and hypertension.

Faced with real health risks, Witas hopes more landlords and contractors will enroll in the RRP course.

“There’s no reason why our children should be suffering from lead poisoning at this point in time,” Witas said. “You can live with lead in your home safely.”

For more information about lead-based paint or the RRP course, contact the River Valley Healthy Communities Coalition at 364-7408.