NPCA disagrees with R.I.Verdict Pertaining to childhood lead poisoning

Citation

(2006), "NPCA disagrees with R.I.Verdict Pertaining to childhood lead poisoning", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 35 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2006.12935fab.010

NPCA disagrees with R.I.Verdict Pertaining to childhood lead poisoning

NPCA disagrees with R.I. Verdict Pertaining to childhood lead poisoning

Keywords: Lead, Coatings, Chemical technology

The National Paint and Coatings Association, Inc., (NPCA), Washington, disagrees with the recent decision reached by the jury in Rhode Island naming former lead paint makers guilty of contributing to childhood lead poisoning. NPCA is confident that, upon appeal, the issue will be resolved in favor of the defendants.

NPCA and the coatings industry have had a long history of progressive action concerning the elimination of childhood lead poisoning. In 1954, the association and its members engaged in a cooperative effort with the American Academy of Pediatrics to establish a consensus standard (through the American Standards Association or ASA, now the American National Standards Institute or ANSI) practically eliminating lead-pigment use in consumer house paints and totally in paints for articles accessible to children.

In 1971, the industry testified in favor of the first federal standard strictly limiting the use of lead in paint as part of the Federal Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act passed by Congress, and thereafter supported the eventual ban of lead in consumer paints by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1978 under this law.

For decades, as the industry ended its use of lead in paint, it also engaged in constant outreach efforts to alert the public to the dangers of lead exposure and the risk of childhood lead poisoning. Since, the early 1960s, hundreds of thousands of safety brochures and posters have been provided free of charge to community health centers and lead-poisoning prevention programs. As new evidence on health risks associated with childhood lead exposure were discovered, NPCA, on behalf of the paint industry, participated in two Presidential Task Forces (under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton) seeking to advance public awareness and extend the knowledge of targeted, feasible and effective lead hazard- control strategies.

In an effort to help target lead hazard reduction strategies in “at-risk” communities as defined by the Centers for Disease Control, NPCA, on behalf of the paint industry, established the independent non-profit Community Lead Education and Reduction Corps (CLEARCorps, see www.clearcorps. org/), which operates effective programs with local partners in cities and regions around the USA.

In 2003, NPCA, on behalf of the paint industry, entered into a landmark, cooperative agreement with 46 state attorneys general and three territories to increase public awareness of lead-based paint hazards and to train renovation and remodeling contractors (including painting contractors) to safely work with old, lead-based paint.

Finally, NPCA, on behalf of its members, continues to focus on a number of ongoing efforts by government agencies at all levels and in Congress to refine and bolster effective policy measures that have as a goal the elimination of childhood lead poisoning by the year 2010.