 |
11.14.2001
Reed panel
hears case
against lead
• Advocates testify that more funds and new approaches are needed to combat lead-paint poisonings nationwide.
BY PETER B. LORD
Journal Environment Writer
WASHINGTON
-- A mother from Maine who inadvertently lead-poisoned her child while renovating their 170-year-old home, the attorney general of Rhode Island and several state experts called on the federal government yesterday to do more to combat what they described as a national epidemic of lead-poisoned children.
One expert said the United States will never come close to reaching its goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning by 2010 unless much more money is spent. Dr. Bruce P. Lanphear, one of the nation's leading researchers on the effects of lead poisoning, recommended creating a National Institute of Safe Housing to reduce the lead poisonings, asthma cases and other problems afflicting those living in poor housing.
Several advocates said the practice (followed in Rhode Island) of testing children for lead poisoning instead of testing housing first is immoral and does little to solve the causes of most poisoning -- deteriorating lead house paints.
The witnesses were called by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., to testify before his Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation. Reed has been lobbying during the last few years to increase federal funds to help communities pay to remove lead paint from homes, and he proposed other measures to reduce the number of poisonings and allow the federal government to sue paint companies.
Circumstances surrounding the hearing show how unusual the times have become. Reed said he was only able to schedule a hearing because of the recent Democratic majority in the Senate. He originally scheduled the hearing for Sept. 13, but it was postponed because of the terrorist attacks.
He went on with the hearing yesterday, even though he and his staff have been put out of their Senate offices by the discovery of anthrax spores. To get to the hearing, he had to pass by a screener at the Denver airport who was so assertive that Reed was forced to remove his suit coat and shoes.
Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse spoke after an earlier meeting with U.S. Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft. Whitehouse said enlisting federal law-enforcement help against lead-paint violators would probably be more difficult now, because Ashcroft is focusing federal law enforcement on anti-terrorism.
The back of the hearing room was filled yesterday with the cadre of lawyers and lobbyists that the paint industry sent to Rhode Island a year and a half ago when Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. was trying to get the General Assembly to give him permission to sue the companies for restitution.
The arguments haven't changed: Experts agree children -- at least a million and maybe several million -- across the country are suffering neurological damage after ingesting lead from deteriorating paint in their homes. The paint industry stopped selling those paints in the 1950s.
Whitehouse and others argued yesterday the paint companies should be required to help clean up the damage their paints caused.
Susan Thornfeldt, the Maine mother who now heads a statewide advocacy group, testified that parental lead-paint education programs really amount to passing the buck.
"The fact is that my home was dangerous, and millions of homes across the country are still today dangerous to children, not because of any lapse in parenting, but because the lead industry cared more about making money than safety," Thornfeldt said. "Despite overwhelming evidence of the danger of its product, and the availability of safer alternatives, the lead-paint manufacturers knowingly marketed a poisonous product for decades."
"Children and families have paid the price for the industry's misconduct," she said. "Taxpayers have paid the price for the industry's misconduct -- hundreds of millions of local, state and federal dollars. As a parent and a taxpayer, I'm tired of paying. I want to know when the companies that caused the problem are going to help pay for solving this problem."
Whitehouse pointed out that in Rhode Island, where the rate of lead poisoning is 21/2 times the national average -- Providence and the state are spending millions of dollars to repair lead problems. The federal government, community groups, landlords, homeowners, as well as parents and children, are all working on the problem, Whitehouse said.
"There is only one group not pitching in: the lead-pigment companies who sold this toxic material for decades, profited from it, lied about it, and are now trying to evade even the most microscopic share of responsibility for cleaning up the mess they created," Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse initiated the first state lawsuit against the paint companies to recover the damages of cleaning up lead and treating victims. The companies have fought back hard and the case is still in the preliminary stages in Rhode Island Superior Court.
The paint-company lobbyists were not asked to speak during the hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
But some left statements criticizing witnesses who used the forum to promote litigation against their companies.
Former Maine Atty. Gen. Andrew Ketterer, an adviser to the paint companies, called Whitehouse's lawsuit "misguided."
"For decades, Rhode Island has failed to adopt programs proven to dramatically reduce lead risks for children," Ketterer said. "The way to help children now is not by pursuing lengthy, costly, no-win litigation against former manufacturers who have no control over property owners' maintenance practices. The way to deal with this issue is to expand programs that have been successful at reducing any problems caused by negligent maintenance."
Prof. Walter E. Dellinger, another adviser to the paint companies, said "state and local policymakers . . . can devote their energies to flawed and unproductive litigation and unconstitutional legislation, or they can pursue concrete proposals designed to remove lead from the homes in which it causes harm."
Reed said he wants to increase federal money for national lead-abatement projects from $110 million annually to $250 million. He's trying to get better screening programs for poor children. (Rhode Island does blood tests on all young children, but some states do little screening.) Also, he wants to renew his bill allowing the federal government to sue paint companies for damages.
"Part of the effort here is to get this problem to center stage," Reed said after the hearing. He said he hopes to have other hearings to query federal officials about their efforts to clean up lead.
Senators Thomas R. Carper, of Delaware, Christopher J. Dodd, of Connecticut, Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania, and Wayne Allard, of Colorado, made appearances at the hearing.
|
|
