PROVIDENCE -- A Boston pediatrician who has treated an estimated 5,000 children for lead poisoning testified yesterday that he knows of no levels of lead that would be safe for children to absorb.
"We continue to try to find the line below which we are absolutely confident children aren't harmed by lead," said Dr. Michael Shannon, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and clinical director of the Pediatric Environmental Health Center at Children's Hospital Boston. "But we haven't found that number."
Shannon was the second expert on lead-paint poisoning put on the stand by the state in its lawsuit against eight national corporations that once made or sold lead-based paints.
Atty. Gen. Sheldon Whitehouse wants the Superior Court jury to find that lead paints used on some 330,000 houses in Rhode Island are a public nuisance. If it does, he wants the court to hold the paint companies liable for the costs of removing the lead. The paint companies argue the paints were legal when they sold them two generations ago, and in fact remain safe today if properly maintained.
Shannon said his clinic is the oldest and the largest lead-poisoning clinic in the Northeast. He explained to the jury that children are much more vulnerable than adults to lead poisoning and their brains are much more readily damaged.
He said that when little children are poisoned, the most common reaction from family members is tears. The next reaction is economic hardship. Many victims' families don't have cars and it's so hard for them to get to the clinic, some don't keep going.
Shannon said he's also done research showing that 30 to 35 percent of his patients are from upper-economic classes and many live in million-dollar houses.
Even though health authorities have set a threshold of 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood, Shannon said he doesn't believe the figure is low enough.
"My opinion is blood levels of below 10 cause visible, demonstrable brain injury to children," he said.
Earlier in the day, paint company lawyers cross-examined the state's first witness, Dr. Philip J. Landrigan.
Responding to questions from attorney Donald E. Scott, Landrigan said he did not know of any cases where children had been poisoned by intact lead paint. He also said he didn't know of cases where children had been poisoned by lead paint in churches, schools, hospitals or other public buildings.
The trial began Wednesday, and after two days of testimony, Judge Michael A. Silverstein sent the jury home and ordered the proceedings to resume Monday afternoon.
