Lead Paint Manufacturers Attempt to Escape Responsibility

Dan Frith

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A Rhode Island jury in 2006 found three companies -- Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries, Inc. and Millennium Holdings LLC -- liable for creating a public nuisance by manufacturing a product that continues to poison children. The state filed the lawsuit against the manufacturers alleging that they had created a public nuisance by selling and promoting lead pigment for use in paint in Rhode Island. Now, the manufacturers are appealing the jury's decision to the Rhode Island Supreme Court and oral argument is scheduled for May 15.

Exposure to lead-based paint is the primary source of lead poisoning. Urban areas, with their older and often more dilapidated structures, present the highest concentrations of lead paint and the greatest threat to children. For a child, even the smallest amount of lead-based paint poses a significant health threat and can lead to brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, attention problems, and more.

Children are exposed to lead when they ingest chips of lead-based paint or swallow or breathe lead contaminated dust. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) conducted a study that determined that about 74% of privately owned housing units in the United States built before 1980 contain lead-based paint. Congress passed laws during 1978 outlawing the use of lead in paint.

Rhode Island is the first state to sue former lead paint manufacturers.