A just ruling for a county determined to protect kids

Disbelief and dismay are two very common reactions we get in response to our analysis of incidents of childhood lead poisoning in our region. That’s because what we describe is no mere collection of incidents, but a full-fledged health crisis that destroys lives.

At a childhood lead poisoning briefing for Montgomery County health leaders this week, we got more disbelief and dismay.

“Why are only 30% of babies tested for lead?”

“Norristown has three times more children poisoned by lead than Flint, Michigan? Why don’t more people know about that?”

“Only three PA cities require lead dust testing in rental properties?”

In Montgomery County, and all across the Commonwealth, more people are demanding accountability. 

Corporate accountability is often a costly affair and thus almost always a litigious one. When an industry is responsible for a faulty product, or a harmful one, there’s often a threshold that triggers a product recall or apology. The threshold marks when it’s too costly (to their bottom line or their reputation) to fight the claims.

When it comes to decades old toxic paint, we’re still far from that threshold today. How far could we possibly be?

The answer: As far as we could possibly be.

In 2016, more than 3,400 children tested positive for lead in southeast PA. That stomach-churning number has no impact on any kind of threshold because the paint companies that sold their toxic, baby-injuring product for decades aren’t being held accountable.

In fact, to this day, taxpayers are footing the bill to deal with gallons of poison in homes that made paint companies buckets of cash.

That’s why we cheered Montgomery and Lehigh Counties in November for suing the paint companies for the cost of removing their toxic products—and then jeered when those companies tried to push the case into federal court. Some observers say such a move would be beneficial to the defendants because state courts can better enforce state law protections. (In fact, Delaware County is currently fighting for its right to sue against Sherwin-Williams, who filed a preemptory lawsuit to block all counties in PA from suing over lead paint.)

In June, a federal court knocked the suit back to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas where it was first filed.

“Local governments are bearing the costs of the damage done by lead paint,” said David Senoff, who represents Montgomery County, “and that is why local juries should be the ones making the determinations about how best to remediate the ongoing danger to their neighbors’ health.”

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, where badly needed reform to the city’s lead law was postponed until the fall, the Lead Free Philly Coalition met with Councilmember Blondell Reynolds-Brown this week. Reynolds-Brown alarmed the advocates in June by imposing the delay before council adjourned for the summer, due to what she described as“a wrinkle” in the proposed legislation.

Following the meeting, spirits were high as Reynolds-Brown indicated the offending wrinkle had been ironed out and discussions of any compromises to the lead law that would perpetuate further harm or discrimination were non-starters. We’re hopeful this could mean a final vote as soon as council resumes in September.