IN THE FALL of 2005, a jury of Rhode Islanders spent four months studying the impact of lead-paint poisoning on our community. They heard from world-renowned experts as well as from fellow Rhode Islanders who live daily with the harsh realities of lead poisoning. After listening to all the arguments from both sides, this jury was unanimous in deciding that lead paint in Rhode Island presents a continuing and persistent threat to the health and safety of local residents, and that the companies responsible for this public-health tragedy should be held accountable for preventing future poisoning.

This decision, now under review by the Rhode Island Supreme Court, was made carefully. Michael Silverstein, the distinguished Rhode Island judge who heard this case, spent nine years presiding over litigation on this issue. After guiding this process for so long, his steady hand is now engaged in crafting an appropriate remedy. Additionally, courts throughout the country have found lawsuits similar to the one in Rhode Island to be legally sound. As the Wisconsin Supreme Court [overturning two other courts] held:

“Many of the individual defendants . . . did more than simply contribute to a risk; they knew of the harm white lead carbonate pigments caused and continued production and promotion of the pigment notwithstanding that knowledge. . . . [T]he record easily establishes the Pigment Manufacturers’ culpability for, at a minimum, contributing to creating a risk of injury to the public.”

The jury in Rhode Island heard extensive evidence that the companies named in the case have known since the early 1900s that their lead in paint would hurt kids. Unfortunately, these corporations chose to continue to make lead, and to promote it in Rhode Island, for decades. To make matters worse, the manufacturers got together as a group and fought regulations, denied lead’s harmful effects, deceived the public, and promoted their product as safe, knowing the whole time that it was damaging children. After decades of deceit and denial, they now have the audacity to try to escape any legal liability.

Despite this well-documented history, the Heartland Institute’s Maureen Martin (“Justices should overturn lead-paint verdict,” Commentary, May 14) seeks to instill fear and mislead the public about this important issue by spouting misguided arguments and half-truths. Despite the overwhelming consensus in the public-health community, Martin tried to deny the existence of the number-one preventable pediatric public-health problem facing Rhode Island’s children, homeowners and taxpayers. She insults citizens who have lived with the realities of lead paint and lead poisoning by trying to shift blame, drum up controversy, and deny responsibility.

That is not surprising. The Heartland Institute is the same organization that has been promoting pseudo-science and misinformation on behalf of Exxon Mobil to convince Americans that global warming is a myth.

Why would we let any corporation that sells a product that injures the public walk away, scot-free, without even helping to clean it up? Sherwin Williams and the others can’t be allowed to hide their responsibility for decades, fail to recall their products, ignore the tens of thousands of Rhode Island children who have already suffered as a result, and do absolutely nothing to help solve the problem they created. And then, after all this, they cry foul when the law finally catches up to them.

Because the lead-paint industry refused to accept any responsibility for its actions and left ordinary citizens on the hook for cleaning up its mess, the only way to hold these companies accountable was for the state to initiate and prosecute this lawsuit. There is no question that these corporations profited from the pollution they created and that they are now well situated to abate it. Justice will be served when those who set this public-health tragedy in motion are required to pitch in with landlords, homeowners, parents and taxpayers to help ensure that children in Rhode Island are no longer threatened by this completely preventable disease.

Roberta Hazen Aaronson is executive director of the Rhode Island Childhood Lead Action Project. Liz Colón is the mother of a lead-poisoned child and the director of training and outreach of the organization ( www.leadsafekids.org).