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![]() 1-800-220-LAW1 Eleven Penn Center 1835 Market Street Suite 2600 Philadelphia, PA 19103
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The greatest risk of injury from lead poisoning is to children under the age of seven, whose developing bodies and brains are sensitive to even small amounts of lead, which can leave children with irreversible injury that does not appear until many years after the exposure to lead. The kinds of injuries lead causes in children include: These injuries can be life-threatening or can prevent a child from realizing his or her scholastic, vocational, and financial potential, or from becoming a self-sufficient adult. Studies have shown that lead poisoned children are more likely to drop out of high school and to live a lifetime of unemployment. Lead poisoning can take important abilities from a child. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (CDC) has concluded that the risk of a child's suffering the above injuries begins when a child's blood-lead level rises to a mere 10 micrograms per deciliter of whole blood. And while lead poisoning is treatable in the sense that there are medical and environmental interventions that can prevent further lead ingestion and help a child to excrete the lead that has already been ingested, the damage that lead does in a child's body is not treatable: once any lead is ingested, the damage is done and is permanent. While there are certainly
other sources of lead in a child's environment, it is universally accepted
that the most common cause of lead poisoning in children is deteriorating
(chipping and peeling) lead-based paint on the exterior and interior of
residences where the afflicted child lives. When lead-based paint deteriorates
because of a landlord's neglect, refusal to obey local and federal health
and housing codes and regulations, or refusal to comply with a tenant's
request for repainting, the deteriorated lead-based paint becomes lead
paint chips (which can be eaten by children) and lead-contaminated paint
dust (which can be ingested by children during normal teething, hand-mouth
behavior, or putting dusty items in their mouths). Because without having
the paint tested a tenant can never know for sure whether deteriorating
paint contains lead, the following precautions should be taken by a tenant
with children under the age of seven:
Lawsuits brought on
behalf of children who have been lead poisoned because of the negligence
and carelessness of landlords or paint and pigment manufacturers are very
serious. Because a large percentage of children who have been lead poisoned
may have consequently suffered mild to moderate brain damage, these children
are entitled to be compensated by those reponsible for the lead poisoning.
Although the effects of lead poisoning are permanent and irreversible,
economic compensation can fund a child's specialized schooling, occupational
therapy, future medical care, and other support services. As with other
toxic tort cases, Lead-Paint poisoning cases require experienced attorneys
who have special expertise with lead poisoning cases. The first step a
competent attorney will take in any childhood lead poisoning case is endeavoring
to find the source(s) of the lead by employing an experienced lead tester
or certified industrial hygienist to test each residence or other location
where the lead poisoned child has spent appreciable time. Next, the attorney
should arrange for the lead-poisoned child to be tested by a neurologist
or neuropsychologist for evidence of lead-related injury. Pediatric medical
doctors with expertise in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of children
with lead poisoning will have to be employed. As with most toxic tort
cases, they are vigorously defended by landlords, who usually defend on
the theory that any deficits that the child exhibits are due to bad parenting,
genetic inferiority, or lead from other sources. It cannot be stressed
enough, however, that childhood lead poisoning is not just an urban problem;
it can affect children from all walks of life. If you suspect that your
child has been poisoned by lead-based paint, or if you notice chipping
and peeling paint in your home or apartment, there are several resources
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