Elemental lead is a naturally occurring, bluish-gray metal found in small amounts in rock and soils. Lead has no distinctive taste or smell. Lead and lead compounds are used in storage batteries, ammunition, metal products (solder and pipes), roofing, gasoline, and devices to shield people from x-rays, among many other products. Because of health concerns, lead has been banned from gasoline, ceramic products, paints for residential use, and solder used on food cans. See Lead FAQs, to learn more about this issue.
Industrially, lead and lead-contaminated dusts are released into the environment from the burning of fossil fuels or waste. Workplace exposures come mostly from dusty environments. Lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust from this type of paint are the primary sources of lead exposure within the home. Preventing adverse health effects to children resulting from lead exposure remains a major public health effort.
Poisoning occurs from swallowing lead (i.e. lead paint chips) or from breathing lead paint dust. Even small amounts of chipped lead paint or lead dust can be dangerous to children. Children face the great risks because their growing bodies absorb lead more easily than adult bodies do. In the United States about 900,000 children ages 1 to 5 have an above normal blood-lead level.
If not detected early, children with high levels of lead in their bodies can suffer from:
…. and headaches.
Lead is also harmful to adults. Adults can suffer from:
… and muscle-joint pain.
Lead contained in paint and gasoline is banned in the U.S., but it persists in the environment in house dust and paint chips, particularly in poorer neighborhoods. Lead-based paints were commonly used in the 1950s and ’60s. According to the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, 30 million U.S. homes built before 1960 still have lead in them. In 1978, Congress banned the use of lead paints.
Paint makers have faced a number of lawsuits over lead paint since 1989. Paint companies that produced lead-based paint in the past include Benjamin Moore & Co., Sherwin-Williams Co., Atlantic Richfield Co., NL Industries Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Glidden Co. Defendants in such cases have banded together to defend suits against the industry.
In response to lawsuits and other accusations, paint manufacturers have argued that, unlike tobacco companies, they never deceived anyone. The industry says it funded the research into the dangers of lead paint and then, after the health hazard was proven, voluntarily pulled lead paint off the market nearly 50 years ago. Of the lawsuits that have been resolved, the former manufacturers have not lost or settled a single case.
To date manufacturers have had significant success avoiding liability, however, increased scrutiny may make it possible for you to recover. Suits against landlords, however, have been more successful. Landlords who do not maintain their properties by removing lead-based paint, or fail to cover it with a new coat of lead-free paint or wallpaper can be held liable.
To help continue the national strategy to eliminate lead-based paint hazards, Congress passed into law the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 4851). This legislation included an amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act (Title IV: Lead Exposure Reduction), requiring the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose new requirements to identify and reduce environmental exposure to lead hazards.
For landlords, the new law requires disclosure. Landlords must inform potential tenants that lead is present in rental properties (and distribute a pamphlet on lead approved by HUD and the EPA), before a lease is signed. If the tenant has young children, disclosure may prevent those children from being exposed to lead. If the landlord can’t rent the property, that may force its sale to someone who will do lead abatement (or, the landlord may at last have the lead professionally removed). Failure to either inform tenants or abate the property can result in treble damages awarded to an injured tenant, damages that must be paid by the landlord. In all cases, these measures are likely to ensure one less potential hazard for children.
Similar principles apply between sellers and buyers of homes: disclosure to potential buyers – if the presence of lead is known to the seller – is mandated by law. And potential buyers also have the legal right to obtain a lead inspection (as they do for radon, termites and asbestos). If lead is found, such a finding may allow them to renegotiate the selling price downward to accommodate the cost of abatement. Or, it may allow them to rescind a prior agreement to buy. In addition, once lead has been found on the property, all future interested parties legally must be informed.
The legal mandates affecting lenders and borrowers, insurers and the insured all pertain to disclosure at the time of a transaction. If a sum is borrowed for renovating a property, the lender has an incentive to be certain that the property value will not be diminished by the discovery of lead. And Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and other government-insured loans will require lead inspections. For insurers wishing to protect themselves from claims, excluding lead coverage will serve as a red warning light to potential insureds, and they will learn of the presence of lead (if it exists) on the property they wish to insure.
While there are many sources of lead in the human environment, lead-based paint hazards in residential housing are considered the primary source of lead exposure. In 1978 the federal government banned the use of lead-base paint. If you live in a home or building built before 1978, however, it is very possible that lead paint was used. Peeling paint is a clear signal that lead paint may have been used in your home.
To find out more about your legal options and the potential of pursuing a compensation claim, contact us today at 1-877-537-4665.
Español
