Defense lawyers for two of the paint companies being sued over lead poisoning in children argued in the second day of opening statements yesterday that the state has done such a good job cleaning up lead that the issue is no longer a "crisis."

Paul M. Pohl, a lawyer for the Sherwin-Williams Co., also told the jury that a transcript of the former state health director's pre-trial deposition would show that she didn't know that there was a lawsuit until "just about the time" it was filed, suggesting the the Health Department and the attorney general weren't working together.

Dr. Patricia Nolan, who was the state health director in 1999 when the first lawsuit was filed, was leading the state's efforts to deal with lead poisonings, efforts that, the defense says, are a dramatic health success story.

Over repeated objections from state lawyers, Judge Michael A. Silverstein allowed Pohl to include parts of a transcript from Nolan in his address to the jury.

On Monday, Jack McConnell, lawyer for the attorney general's office, said the problem created by lead-based paint in homes was too big for the legislature and state agencies to handle alone.

Pohl told the jury that Nolan said she would not disagree with a statement characterizing Rhode Island's declining rate of child lead poisoning as a "public health success story." He used her statement to question the validity of the state's characterization of lead poisoning as a "crisis" or a "disaster."

Pohl also echoed arguments made Tuesday by John Tarantino, lawyer for Atlantic Richfield, that the rate of lead poisoning had decreased substantially in the last decade.

Opening statements were also made by Michael Nilan, representing Millennium Holdings. Millennium had asked to be severed from the case last month because the company it represents stopped making lead-based paints in 1958, but the judge denied the request.

In 1965, seven years after its predecessor, Glidden Co., closed its lead mine, Nilan said, building specifications for a library in Providence called for "one coat Pratt and Lambert Noxide red lead primer."

Citing other state and federal building specifications that called for lead paint, Nilan said it was "a vast overstatement and fundamentally unfair to hold these four companies responsible for the presence of lead in the state."

The remainder of Nilan's presentation focused on ways the state could reduce the number of children with elevated blood lead levels.

He referred to the Department of Health's Web site, which lists the addresses of lead poisoned children and instances where a landlord has been given three warnings to abate hazardous conditions. As of Oct. 5, he said, there were 177 properties listed.

"We know where the properties are," he told the jury, "and we know the children are getting elevated blood levels. And they're not taking care of it," he said, referring to state agencies.

Nilan repeated what other defense lawyers said Tuesday, that the problem was not a widespread public nuisance, but a localized problem that the state had the ability to manage.

With more effective enforcement of the law, he said, the number of children with substantially elevated blood lead levels "will essentially go to zero."

This is the second trial of the attorney general's lawsuit against companies that made lead-based paints. The first trial, in 2002, ended in a hung jury. This summer the state dismissed its case against one of the defendants, DuPont Corp., after it agreed to donate more than $12 million to various charities.

The four companies on trial this time, Sherwin-Williams, Atlantic Richfield, NL Industries and Millennium Holdings, are being sued for creating a public nuisance when they sold lead-based paints that continue to poison children in Rhode Island.

On Monday, McConnell said that his mother taught him that it was his responsibility to help clean up after making a mess, and that that was what the state was asking of the defendants.

Wrapping up his opening statement, Pohl said that his mother was probably like McConnell's mother and many others who taught "if you're unfairly being blamed for a condition you didn't cause, there's nothing wrong, in America, with speaking out and defending yourself -- politely."

The state will present its first witness, Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician, this morning.

Brandie Jefferson has a fellowship with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. She can be reached at bjeffers [at] projo.com.