New York City Council members have introduced legislation to address loopholes in existing laws that safety advocates say, along with the lack of enforcement by city agencies, are factors in thousands of children being diagnosed with lead poisoning each year. According to a report in The Gothamist, the council hearing came as the mayor’s office announced the appointment of a new official who will be tasked with getting lead paint out of city homes.
Loopholes in the Law Endanger Children
Council members say the legislation will address shortcomings dating back to the Bloomberg Administration, which is when the city’s current lead exposure protections, known as Local Law 1 of 2004, were first passed. Councilmember Pierina Ana Sanchez, who represents areas of the Bronx where 65% of the children were found to have elevated blood lead levels in 2021, said there are still several loopholes in the law that allow these children to be exposed to dangerous lead levels.
The new legislation will strengthen stipulations that landlords (building owners) show written documentation that they have complied with annual inspections for deteriorated paint, which are required under existing law. The legislation will also speed up one provision of Local Law 1, which aims to eliminate lead paint from high-friction surfaces such as doors and windows. These areas create lead dust and pose a serious risk to children in the city’s aging buildings, particularly those operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) or “the projects.”
Lack of Compliance with the Law
Lead has the potential to cause irreversible brain damage in young children. It is also associated with behavioral issues, even at lower levels of exposure. Old lead paint is the most common source of exposure in New York City. While the number of children with elevated lead levels has gone down by more than 90% since Local Law 1 passed, over 4,200 children under the age of 6 years had recent blood lead levels that exceeded the Centers for Disease Control’s current threshold, according to data provided last year to Gothamist by the NYC health department and its 2021 lead poisoning report.
That data shows that non-compliance with key aspects of the lead poisoning prevention law is still prevalent. Audits of city buildings by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) — the agency charged with enforcing the rule — showed that 90% of landlords (building owners) had not concluded annual inspections for peeling or chipping lead paint. HPD issued 15,448 lead-based paint violations just last year, an increase over around 2,000 violations when compared to 2019, the most recent year for available data before the pandemic disrupted normal operations.
How Do You Know If You Have Lead in Your Home?
One way to prevent lead poisoning is to know whether you have lead contamination in your home. So, how do you know? One of the quickest and most cost-efficient ways to find out if your home has lead paint is to use a home test kit, which uses chemicals that change colors when lead is detected. These kits are available for purchase from hardware stores. Consumers would be well-advised to use a home test kit that has been cleared by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Another way to test for lead is to retain the services of an inspector who will use a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF), which can measure lead in paint. An XRF can provide quick results. While it can only detect the presence of lead above a specific concentration, the technique is widely used because it delivers fast, accurate results without damaging the paint.
One more way to test your home for lead paint is to conduct a risk assessment where an inspector will track down spots where paint has begun to deteriorate and retrieve samples to test in a lab. You may want to use one or more of these methods to make sure you get the most accurate results possible.
New York Lead Poisoning Lawyer
Whether you have been living as a tenant at a private apartment complex or in a public housing unit (the Projects), please remember that you have legal rights. If your child has been diagnosed with high blood lead levels, regardless of whether you live in public or private housing, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) (the Projects) or private building owners and building managers for damages. Those who have been affected can seek compensation for damages including medical expenses, cost of diagnostic tests, permanent injuries, lost income and benefits, disabilities, past and future pain and suffering, etc.
If your child has been affected by lead poisoning, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options, and also fight hard to recover just compensation for you.
Our firm recovered $1,162,500 for a child who suffered lead poisoning from paint in her apartment. The child’s injuries were subtle and difficult to recognize. We fought hard and recovered $162,500 above the $1 million dollar total insurance policy in this case, despite the judge’s efforts to settle the case for $950,000. Also, one of our clients obtained a verdict for $43,940,000 and another of our clients got a verdict for $23,500,000, both in medical malpractice cases.
Please contact us TOLL FREE 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). WE CAN EVEN COME TO YOU. There is no attorneys’ fee unless we recover money for you. We can also help with personal injury, lead poisoning and medical malpractice cases including, brachial plexus palsy (Erb’s palsy) and cerebral palsy cases in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
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Source: https://gothamist.com/news/city-council-seeks-to-close-loopholes-in-nycs-lead-poisoning-prevention-laws