Lead Paint And The Lead Paint Industry - Look No Further For The Main Cause Of Childhood Lead Poisoning

摘要

The former lead paint companies that are being sued do not stand accused of producing all the lead products that pollute our environment. While there is a good deal of evidence that some of the same companies that are defendants in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, California and elsewhere also have some responsibility for the lead additive in gasoline, or the lead solder in tin cans, or lead water pipes, that is not the accusation in the present lawsuits. The defendant companies are being sued for poisoning young children because they produced, promoted and sold lead paint and pigment long after they became aware that their product was causing such harm. The "Commentary" authors insist that public lawsuits against the lead paint manufacturers are irresponsible because they do not address the universe of lead hazards. Yet if society eliminates or greatly reduces lead paint as a source of child lead poisoning, the problem would be reduced to a very large extent. Do we have to eliminate, or even identify, all other sources of lead before we target the industry responsible for the most important source? Should we convey to manufacturers and distributors of other hazardous products the message that as long as they are not the only source of a dangerous substance, they may endanger the public health with impunity? Now that would be irresponsible.