Three lawyers for paint companies say the state attorney general didn't act against landlords who owned houses with high amounts of lead poisoning.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005

BY BRANDIE JEFFERSON
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Although the state Health Department keeps a list of the most egregious cases of lead-paint poisonings on its Web site, 82 houses have been listed as high-risk or properties with multiple violations since January with no apparent repercussion, defense lawyers argued yesterday.

Yesterday, Millennium Holdings lawyer Michael Nilan questioned state's witness Patricia Nolan, former state health director, about the success of the state's efforts to enforce the Lead Poisoning Prevention Act. He asked her whether she had once referred to them as "inefficient."

She said she had.

The Rhode Island attorney general has accused four companies of creating a public nuisance when they, or their legal predecessors, made and sold lead-based paint in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although the sale of such paint was outlawed in 1978, it continues to poison children in Rhode Island's old housing stock; the state contends the paint companies are partially responsible.

Three defense lawyers argued yesterday that it was the attorney general's office, and not the paint companies, that was to blame for the public nuisance.

If a child has been significantly lead-poisoned at a residence, and the landlord has received two notices from the state Health Department, the attorney general can legally take the house into receivership.

"At that point," Nilan quoted from the lead poisoning law, "[the house] may be considered abandoned and a public nuisance, which is a menace to public health."

As of Nov. 1, Nilan said, there were about 180 properties that received two notices from the Health Department; 147 of those properties had been posted on the Health Department's Web site since July.

Paul Pohl, representing Sherwin-Williams, questioned Nolan's assertion that there was "continuous interaction" between the Health Department and the attorney general's office.

Nolan said she hadn't seen the court document filed by the state, outlining its abatement plans, until after it was filed.

Atlantic Richfield lawyer John Tarantino asked Nolan about the effects of different amounts of lead in children's blood. Less than 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is considered "acceptable" by the Health Department, 10 to 14 means a child "has been exposed to lead hazards," 15 to 19 means a child has been "lead-poisoned," and a child with 20 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is considered "significantly lead-poisoned."

Tarantino asked Nolan whether the harmful effects of exposure to hazardous lead conditions -- low IQ, hyperactivity and limited development -- were "probable" in children with lead levels at each of the stages.

Depending on how long the lead was in a child's system, Nolan said, "for children whose levels have not been much higher than 15 or 20, there should not be as much chance of harm."

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