Chipped paint with dangerous concentrations of lead has been falling down from the elevated subway tracks that run through Bushwick for several years now. But, local residents, officials, safety advocates and others are saying that the Metropolitan Transit Authority has delayed fixing the problem in spite of the public outcry. A local pizza shop owner said he had the chipping paint tested in 2020.
Dangerous Levels of Lead
The paint chips came back with a dangerously high concentration of lead — about 63,000 parts per million (ppm) — substantially above the federal legal limit of 5,000 ppm considered hazardous to human health. The business owner told AMNY that he shared the findings with local elected officials as well as the MTA, but that the transit authority has failed to address the issue for three years even as local children continue to be exposed to these dangerous levels of lead.
Deteriorating lead paint and the danger of lead poisoning, particularly for young children, has long been an issue in New York City. These problems have been brought into the forefront in the last few years after it was discovered that thousands of children suffered lead poisoning in public housing units or “the Projects,” operated by the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Studies have also shown that lead paint is a problem in housing units owned by private landlords (building owners) who often do not remedy the issue.
Immediate Action Needed
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.
The sale of lead paint for consumer use has been banned for consumer use since 1978 and today, commercial paint cannot contain more than 90 ppm of lead. However, those restrictions were not in place when the elevated train lines were built back in the 1880s. The lines were operated by private railroad companies for nearly 20 years before the subway system came into existence.
City officials say the dangers of lead exposure do not stop in the immediate vicinity of the tracks. As the lead paint chips fall to the ground, they get ground down when people drive and walk over them, and the dust residue can potentially make its way into local homes and businesses.
This is not the only location where lead paint has been a problem on subway tracks. In 2017, a group of Jackson Heights residents filed a class action lawsuit against MTA arguing the authority had for years allowed lead paint to chip off the 7 train’s elevated structure and fall to the streets. That following year, MTA officials announced they would remove the hazardous paint and apply new coats of paint in the affected areas.
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://www.amny.com/new-york/brooklyn/lead-paint-rains-on-bushwick-from-elevated-tracks-locals-say/