[spiritof1848] Rosner and Markowitz on RI Lead Decision- Getting the Lead Out

[Guest guest]

Subject: [spiritof1848] Rosner and Markowitz on RI Lead Decision

This article can be found on the web at

http://www.thenatio n.com/doc/ 20070423/ rosner_markowitz

Getting the Lead Out

by DAVID ROSNER & GERALD MARKOWITZ

[from the April 23, 2007 issue]

From The Occ.- Env. Medical Board

For most readers outside Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse is known

for

being the newly elected Democratic senator who replaced Republican

Lincoln

Chafee, thereby helping the Democrats take control of the Senate.

But for

the people of Rhode Island, Whitehouse is also known as the former

State

Attorney General who initiated what is proving to be one of the most

important public health victories of the past century.

Early this year Judge Silverstein issued a ruling affirming

a jury

verdict in the longest civil trial in Rhode Island history. The jury

held

three lead pigment manufacturers responsible for an environmental and

public health tragedy! that over the past century has caused lead

poisoning

among tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of children, who ingested

lead

dust and flakes of decaying lead paint from the walls of houses and

public

buildings before it was banned in 1978. This is a groundbreaking

decision,

for it is the first time the industry has been held accountable for

the

terrible toll lead pigment has taken. It also marks the first

effective

strategy for actually ending the nightmare of lead poisoning.

For much of the past century, public health officials have dealt

with lead

poisoning by treating children with high lead levels in their blood.

Damage from lead poisoning is permanent, and treatment to prevent

further

damage by removing kids from their homes or detoxifying them through

chelation therapy (an intrusive method requiring repeated

hospitalization)

is palliative at best. More often than not, children have been sent

back

into homes only to be poiso! ned again.

The lawsuit brought by Whitehouse in 1999 proposed a new approach:

Drawing

on a host of documents from the Lead Industries Association (LIA),

the

pigment producers' trade group, the suit contended that the industry

knew

lead was a dangerous product for nearly a century and therefore

bears some

responsibility not only for paying for the care of poisoned kids but

also

for preventing the poisoning of future generations. The state, with

the

assistance of a huge plaintiffs' lawsuit, sued four pigment

manufacturers- -Sherwin , NL Industries, Millennium Holdings

and

Atlantic Richfield--arguing that the industry should be held

accountable

for having knowingly sold a dangerous product to millions of

homeowners.

With historians presenting abundant documentation, the jury learned

that

the LIA not only knew lead paint was " a slow, cumulative poison " but

discussed in private meetings the fact that kids were dying. The jury

learned that despite many medical journal articles detailing death!

s--and

comas--from the early 1900s on, manufacturers continued to market

lead

paint as a safe and sanitary product for use on the walls, woodwork

and

windowsills of children's rooms and schools, and even on toys. The

jury

decided to hold the industry accountable for having created a " public

nuisance " and ordered, with Judge Silverstein affirming, three of the

companies to " remedy " the public health problem by removing lead

paint

throughout the state. Since at least 240,000 of Rhode Island's homes

are

covered in lead paint, the bill will be anywhere from $1.5 billion

to $4

billion. The judge called for the naming of a " special master, " an

expert

capable of aiding him in deciding how to remove the paint.

While the industry will undoubtedly appeal the verdict to the State

Supreme Court, the decision will have far-reaching public health

implications. Already other states and communities are beginning

suits

based on the same legal pr! inciples that underlie this victory. In

the

words of state counsel Jack McConnell, the principle was simple: " If

you

help make a mess, you have to help clean it up. " For industry in

general

the message is even more stark: If you knowingly harm people, you

will be

held accountable. For the nation as a whole it is a good sign that

Whitehouse, now a senator, is willing to take chances and hold a

powerful

industry to account.

[Guest guest]

This is great. Lead is responsible for huge changes in the potential IQ of

millions of Americans and its probably also responsible for lots of

essential hypertension and deaths. People who have had high levels of lead

exposure have all sorts of symptoms. It has lowered the IQ of people in

entire regions by 10 IQ points or more.

The cost of removing lead paint will be high but the cost of not removing it

is higher.

Whole cities are contaminated.

We also need to work on ending mercury pollution. The best way to reduce

that is to find alternatives to burning coal in power plants because mercury

is polluting the air in the entire northeast.