Amid strengthening indications that class-action lawyers are about to turn their attention to lead-based paint, the National Paint & Coatings Association has launched a new public Web site suggesting that lead poisoning cases are down, cases that do exist are not from paint, and noting that the paint industry was among the first to condemn the use of lead additives as early as the '40s and '50s.

In mid-July the National Multi Housing Council warned its members that class-action lawyers, currently busy with litigation against the tobacco industry and gun manufacturers, had selected lead-based paint as their next area of concern. The NMHC suggested the primary targets would be landlords and building owners whose properties may contain lead-based paint.

On top of that, HUD has announced action against 45 landlords around the country linked to lead-based paint disclosures. The EPA already has taken action against some real estate companies for failure to provide mandated pamphlets to homebuyers.

In an apparent effort to derail potential finger pointing at the paint industry, the new Web page notes:

• During the 1940s and 1950s, paint manufacturers essentially discontinued the use of lead pigments in consumer paints, and publicly supported all federal legislation and regulation prohibiting the use of lead, including legislation in 1971 and the 1978 Consumer Product Safety Commission ban.
• The primary cause of lead exposure today is hand-to-mouth lead dust ingestion, not eating old lead-based paint chips. That dust is primarily from soil contaminated over the years by car and truck tailpipe emissions resulting from leaded gasoline.
• The number of children with lead poisoning has dropped significantly -- from over 88 percent in the late 1970s to some 6 percent today. And there's been a 78 percent drop in overall blood levels among all Americans between 1976 and 1991. The most significant reductions occurred when airborne lead levels dropped due to the removal of lead from gasoline.
• HUD reports show that well-maintained surfaces containing lead paint do not present a health hazard. Interim controls such as "in-place management" and encapsulation have been recognized as valid methods of preventing lead exposure.

Nevertheless, the Multi Housing Council warned its members that class-action lawyers were planning lawsuits that "will allege that the paint industry deceived the public about the hazards of lead-based paint."

NMHC also said the paint industry was likely to try to push the blame onto building owners. News reports already are quoting paint industry officials as saying, "lead poisoning results from poor maintenance by property owners and not from paint manufacturers having knowingly included a harmful ingredient in their product."

In Washington, Attorney General Janet Reno and Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo announced in mid-July a series of settlements against landlords who they said failed to warn tenants about the hazards of lead-based paint.

The actions were the first ever filed under the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, and included four settlements totaling more than $1 million worth of lead paint abatement and $260,000 in fines.

HUD also says it has undertaken 45 administrative enforcement actions under the Act in 20 cities, including:

The District of Columbia; Baltimore; Cleveland; Providence, RI; Columbus; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Paw Paw, MI; Houston; Richmond; Youngstown, OH; Los Angeles; Richfield Springs, NY; New London, CT; Hampton, VA; Huber Heights, OH; Cranston, RI; St. Louis; Mulvane, KS; and Silver Spring, MD.

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Published: July 21, 1999

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