Lead paint is now a well known health hazard, but thousands of children are still suffering the consequences of dangerous exposure to lead and lead paint poisoning. Lead poisoning occurs when a person or a child eats or inhale lead paint chips from their home or another environment where they spend a great deal of time. Lead paint poisoning is far more dangerous to children than to adults because their bodies, which are growing at a rapid rate, absorb more lead. In fact, children below the age of 6 are the most susceptible.
Houses built before 1979 often have lead based paint and if your home has been poorly maintained or is going through a renovation, your children face the highest risk of exposure to toxic levels of lead and lead paint. Additionally, lead paint is sweet to taste and is therefore at even more risk for poisoning children who don’t know any better. Lead based paint was actually banned by the U.S. government in 1978 after lead poisoning studies showed the major health problems in children that it created. Nevertheless, it remains widespread in older New England homes. Rhode Island brought the suit because their children’s blood-lead levels are typically well above the national average.
Lead paint poisoning can damage the nervous system, cause chemical brain injuries, seizures, slow or stunted growth, hearing loss, learning disabilities, and acute behavioral problems. In very high levels, the toxicity can even cause coma, convulsions and death. The symptoms of lead poisoning can include apparent neurological problems like a reduced IQ and failure to cognitively develop.
Lead paint poisoning can manifest itself in physical problems like nausea and pain in the abdomen and gastrointestinal issues like constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, and weight loss. It can affect the personality making your child irritable, causing insomnia and excess fatigue or hyperactivity and headaches. Other longer term problems include anemia, kidney disease and failure, and reproductive problems. A direct link between early lead exposure and extreme learning disability has been confirmed by multiple researchers and child advocacy groups. You can identify if your child has lead paint poisoning by taking them to the doctor and ordering a blood-lead test which will find elevated levels of lead in your child, if they exist.
Recently, in Rhode Island, Sherwin-Williams Co., NL Industries Inc.and Millennium Holdings LLC, three former lead paint manufacturers were found liable for creating a "public nuisance" and they were ordered to clean up lead paint throughout the state in a major lead paint lawsuit. The case is something of a landmark as it is the first being decided out of multiple lead-poisoning lawsuits that are still pending. The jury sided with prosecutors who had brought the suit in 1999, accusing paint manufacturers of covering lead paint risks to children.
If you or your children have been adversely effected by lead based paint or lead paint poisoning, you should contact and environmental pollutant attorney as quickly as possible. You may be able to get compensation for lead paint removal and for medical expenses related to treating your condition or that of your child.