Many are looking to city officials for better enforcement of rulings that make landlords responsible for lead disclosure and removal. Meanwhile, lead exposed tenants are landing big court settlements.
In past years, there has been no shortage of people around with their head in the sand on the issue of lead exposure. However that complacency came with both misinformation about the dangerous impact of lead, and a high price to pay in terms of who has been impacted and how. Today, with all of the information available there is a new awareness about lead and rightly, a new respect for it.
Lead has the ability to steal one’s life potential in a single exposure. It spares none – from the unborn (our most susceptible) to the aging. Usually, it takes years before the effects of accumulated, low-level exposure is realized. It becomes obvious when a child enters school that he or she is slow to learn, or can’t concentrate. Or when an aging parent begins to lose cognitive function. Unfortunately, it has taken too many of us too long to connect these with lead.
But now that we have, the spot light is turning on those individuals who own the buildings that contain one of the most prevalent and devastating sources of lead around: old paint.
We are hardly talking about a slap on the wrist for less than diligent landlords. Last year’s Matias case awarded 8.5 million dollars in compensation to a 15 year old who had been lead exposed in a rental apartment over a two year period, 8 years earlier. The child’s cognitive damage included nothing that teachers don’t see everyday: a diagnosed learning disability with attention, memory and behavior deficits. The apartment owner was found negligent in the trial.
Lawsuits are before the courts where exposure was ten and twenty years ago. More and more lawyers are advertising their services specifically to those who have been lead exposed. Estimates of the number of school-aged children who have learning and behavioral challenges linked to lead are moving beyond 30%, while the number of those with IQ’s in the mentally handicapped range is predicted to double in the next decade.
Why the staggering numbers? According to special educator, and lead expert/author, Dr. Sandra Cottingham, the amount of lead it takes to permanently damage the developing brain of an unborn child is surprisingly small. Her new book entitled, LEAD BABIES describes the amount as equal to just three granules of table sugar. In landlord terms: just a single square inch of lead based paint is enough to cause measureable damage to 500 children.
Cottingham’s advice for landlords is to properly test all paint layers of rental units, especially if built before 1978. She stresses the importance of following lead abatement guidelines very carefully and providing a safe, lead-free home for renters. Finally, she recommends that landlords protect themselves against liability by ensuring there is no lead on the premises.
The alternative to removing lead paint is to complete a lead disclosure form and provide a potential tenant with the regionally designated lead hazard pamphlet. As the courts are showing, it is the landlord’s responsibility to make tenants fully aware of the health risks their unit poses.
More information about lead's impact and what individuals can do to protect themselves is available at www.nomoreleadbabies.com
LEAD BABIESBreaking the cycle of learning disabilities, declining IQ, ADHD, behavior problems, and autism
Authors: Joanna Cerazy M.Ed. and Sandra Cottingham Ph.D
Publisher: Kunati Inc (USA & Canada) 1-866-356-2442
www.kunati.com
Distribution: Independent Publishers Group (IPG)
ISBN: 978-1-60164-192-2
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