0:04
lead poisoning has been a specialty of
0:07
mine in addition
0:08
to fires and other things for a very
0:11
long time probably I’m one of the first
0:13
lawyers in the city of New York that
0:15
started bringing actions for children
0:17
who have been poisoned by lead you have
0:21
to understand a little bit of the
0:22
history of lead poisoning and understand
0:24
to understand why cases are brought and
0:26
how cases come about so before 1960 or
0:31
so lead was a significant component of
0:35
paint and when I say paint I mean
0:38
actually paint that you paint in walls
0:41
houses apartment buildings and the
0:44
reason why lit was such a a a good
0:46
component of paint is because it’s heavy
0:49
and it dries fast so they would put it
0:52
on the wall it would dry fast it’s heavy
0:56
it’s
0:57
bulky in a liquid form and so it would
1:01
last a long time because of its qu
1:05
quality and because of the um basically
1:09
what makes lead lead the consistency of
1:12
it the the composition of it um makes
1:16
letter excellent quality for paint so
1:18
painter would would use it because it
1:20
would help them landlords would use it
1:23
because it lasted a long time and it was
1:26
a
1:27
win-win except that what what happened
1:31
many many times and you you got to
1:33
remember the city of New York like a lot
1:35
of cities is
1:37
old it’s not like cities in Florida
1:40
which have you know come about in the
1:42
last 20 years you know apartments are
1:45
here the the city of New York is how old
1:48
over aund and something years old and we
1:51
have all these apartment buildings that
1:53
go back to 1900
1:56
1906 and those apartments were all paint
2:00
with lead in around 1950s or so it was
2:05
determined that lead is toxic to the
2:08
human
2:09
body so you have this dichotomy of lead
2:13
being toxic to the human body and yet
2:16
being a great substance to be used on
2:18
the wall so how do we get to lead poison
2:21
as Apartments became older and pipes
2:25
became older and brick became older and
2:28
more porous there were water leaks water
2:33
leaks from apartments from you know
2:35
breaking the pipe water leaks from
2:37
because the the pointing system on the
2:39
outside of buildings started to crumble
2:42
and so what happens is that the water
2:46
gets into the wall behind the Paint and
2:50
causes peeling I’m sure we’ve all been
2:52
in buildings you’ve been in building
2:53
where you see a crack in the wall so
2:57
little children have a tendency that
2:59
tendency is to pick at things I mean
3:01
what what child do you see that doesn’t
3:03
pick at something so they would pick at
3:07
whatever the the um the chip is on the
3:10
wall the crack on the wall and as kids
3:14
do I mean we all know little kids what
3:16
do they do with when they get something
3:17
in their hands they put it in their
3:18
mouth you got to remember a little kid
3:20
who’s walking around maybe a year of age
3:22
a little older than that maybe they’re
3:24
walking around they see a chip they see
3:27
something on the wall they pick at it
3:29
and they put it in their mouth so if you
3:33
do that enough that lid gets into your
3:38
bloodstream and from being in your
3:40
bloodstream it can travel to the brain
3:44
and once it travels to the brain it
3:46
inhibits blood flow and brain function
3:51
so what happened over time is that these
3:54
various kids were coming in with issues
3:57
and eventually they determined that one
3:59
of the reasons that these children were
4:01
having issues learning is because they
4:04
all had homes where when the nurses and
4:09
the doctors questioned the parents like
4:11
what’s going on in your house we’re
4:12
trying to figure out a cause for your
4:14
child’s problem they would talk about
4:16
the environment in which the child was
4:18
being raised the environment in which
4:20
the child was living in and eventually
4:22
there were all these studies done that
4:24
determined that led was causing the
4:28
problem so in 1960 lead became banned to
4:33
be utilized in paint so you say 1960
4:37
1960 is 64 years ago so why are we still
4:41
having issues with Le paint well here’s
4:43
the answer the answer is because
4:46
landlords when they paint the apartment
4:50
they don’t remove the prior layers I
4:54
mean when you paint your house when you
4:56
paint your own apartment you don’t go
4:57
and you scrape off all the layers you
4:59
just paint over the old ones you take
5:01
some you know spackle if there’s a crack
5:04
or something and you spackle over it and
5:06
then you paint over the sple so what
5:09
happens still is if there is a water
5:13
leak or damage of some kind to the
5:15
apartment once you start picking at the
5:17
layers you’re just picking off what old
5:21
layers of lead pain so there are all
5:24
these apartments there’s apartment stock
5:26
in the city of New York I mean how many
5:27
apartments do we have in the city of New
5:28
York millions that have lead paint in
5:31
them with children that are running
5:32
around putting things in their mouth and
5:37
what happens is a uh parent a tant will
5:41
complain to a landlord that there’s
5:43
water damage in the apartment and the
5:45
landlord says you know I’ll get to it
5:47
when I get to it and you have a little
5:49
kid who’s picking at the wall and
5:53
eventually it gets determined that
5:55
they’re having issues and they go for
5:58
what we call a blood lead test which is
6:02
under the initials PB that’s the lead
6:05
and doctors now test
6:08
routinely for lead in the system and
6:12
it’s been determined I mean if you go
6:15
back to I’m going to say the 70s and the
6:17
80s initially we didn’t think there were
6:20
any problems with causing in injury and
6:24
issues to children unless the lead level
6:28
in the child’s blood stream was above 25
6:32
or 30 we have determined over the
6:35
years that lead can cause a significant
6:38
problem even at levels as low as five or
6:42
seven or 10 and so you know that’s come
6:45
about as a result of all the studies
6:47
that were done regarding lead and
6:50
there’s hundreds and hundreds of
6:52
Articles involving lead and the effect
6:55
upon
6:56
children and I will say that the uh at
7:00
least with regard to the city of New
7:01
York and the the housing authority and
7:04
other City agencies they have done a
7:07
pretty decent job of trying to eradicate
7:10
lead but what happens is a child will go
7:14
to a doctor the doctor will do the test
7:17
the test will determine that the child
7:19
has a lead level let’s say I’m going to
7:21
use the level of 10 I’m going to say the
7:22
level’s
7:23
12 once that occurs the doctor is
7:26
obligated under the law these days it
7:29
has been for a good 15 20 years to
7:32
notify the health department and once
7:35
the health department gets notified they
7:38
actually make a trip to the apartment
7:41
where the child resides and they take a
7:43
special machine and they put the machine
7:45
against the wall and that machine will
7:49
go beond the first layer of the paint
7:53
and determine how much lead there is
7:56
believe it or not they can determine
7:57
this in each chip of paint that’s on the
8:00
wall and if it’s determined that it’s
8:03
beyond the certain number that you’re
8:06
allowed that there’s a violation under
8:09
the law the New York City Department of
8:11
Health will actually take a red stamp
8:13
it’s actually got the words lead on it
8:16
and stamp the wall where there’s a
8:19
violation and they go from room to room
8:21
within the apartment testing different
8:24
sections of the walls and the doors and
8:26
the frames of the windows to deter and
8:29
where L is they then issue a violation
8:32
to the landlord and the landlord is
8:34
obligated these days to eradicate the
8:38
lead within the apartment and that means
8:41
what they haven’t done since the
8:43
building was built means they have to
8:45
actually strip the entire wall get all
8:48
the levels of the lead paint that was
8:50
there before they actually have to strip
8:51
it down get down to the
8:54
sheetrock put up new sheetrock and put
8:57
on and apply new layers of pain so that
9:02
little kids who now if there’s water
9:06
damage and they pick at the level at the
9:08
pain chips will not be lead poison I
9:12
mean we’ve represented over the years I
9:14
probably represented two to 300 children
9:17
who have been significantly injured
9:19
because they basically will eat lead
9:22
from the wall because they put it in
9:24
their mouth I’ve actually tasted lead
9:27
pain chips myself and believe believe it
9:29
or not it’s actually sweet it actually
9:31
tastes like candy and so you give a
9:34
little kid candy and what are they going
9:36
to do if they go back because that’s
9:38
something sweet and it’s delicious to
9:40
them and so as much as a a mother or
9:44
parent can tell their children not to go
9:47
to the wall and to you know strike their
9:49
hand where they start picking which is a
9:51
lot of what parents do children will
9:53
inevitably go back and so you know our
9:57
job as lawyers is to represent the
9:59
people
10:01
and if there’s a building that’s before
10:06
1960 and there’s peeling paint on the
10:09
wall it’s the obligation of the landlord
10:13
to go and
10:15
investigate let me repeat that if
10:18
there’s a building built before 1960 and
10:21
the Tenant complains appealing paint on
10:23
the wall the landlord has an obligation
10:26
under the law to go and and investigate
10:30
to see if lead is present in the levels
10:33
that are violation behind the first
10:36
level behind the first layer and if
10:39
there is then the landlord’s obligated
10:42
under the law to eradicate that
10:43
condition because of the devastating
10:46
effect that lead can have on little
10:48
children so you know we’ve represented
10:51
as I’ve said probably two to 300 of
10:52
these infants these children and uh
10:55
generally speaking when these children
10:57
are young and they don’t understand
10:59
and they’re eating lead paint is also at
11:01
the times that their brains are being
11:03
more formulated I mean I mean you know
11:06
when you think about it we’re born into
11:08
this world and yet we’re really not
11:10
ready for this world when you think
11:11
about it I mean we come out we can’t
11:13
walk you know we can’t talk we can’t
11:16
feed ourselves right so we develop over
11:21
time and so when these children are
11:24
eating these lead pain chips their
11:26
brains and their bodies are still
11:28
developing and lead will impede
11:31
significantly that development it will
11:34
cause brain damage it can cause motor
11:37
function difficulty and one of the main
11:39
things it causes is a
11:42
hyperactivity the lead in the
11:44
bloodstream makes you jumpy um think
11:47
about having so much sugar in your
11:48
system right if you eat too much sugar
11:49
you become jumpy or think you have that
11:50
much caffeine so when these children get
11:53
into school they can’t sit still they’re
11:57
very what we call hyperactive
11:58
hyperactive activity is a major major
12:01
side effect of a lead poison child and
12:04
so they don’t learn they can’t sit to
12:07
learn my parents tell me all the time
12:09
that they don’t listen the children
12:10
don’t listen they don’t listen because
12:12
they can’t comprehend and because they
12:13
don’t sit long enough if you look at
12:16
report cards of children who have led
12:17
poisoning and have been LED poison the
12:20
teachers always talk about a lack of
12:22
concentration and a fidgetiness they
12:24
just can’t sit still what we do is we
12:27
represent these people in actions
12:28
against the landlord
12:30
um who have the obligation to eradicate
12:33
the ledge from the building and that’s
12:34
their job when they take when they buy
12:36
these buildings they know that they all
12:37
know the regulations and their failure
12:39
to do so caus a significant injury to
12:42
these children so you know that’s that’s
12:44
a little history about lead poisoning
12:45
and what it does and and what we do and
12:48
we’ve sign we’ve cover recovered
12:50
significant amounts of money uh for
12:52
people who CH children have become lead
12:54
poisoned generally speaking it’s not
12:57
adults because adults don’t are usually
12:59
smart enough not to be eating
13:01
lead off the wall the other way that
13:05
children become lead poisoned is from
13:07
what we call lead dust so even let’s say
13:09
a child who’s four a child who’s four or
13:12
five is generally smart enough to know
13:14
that they shouldn’t be eating pain chips
13:16
on the wall right but if there’s so many
13:19
pain
13:20
chips that the particles invade the
13:25
apartment and the apartment becomes
13:29
I don’t want to use the word fil me but
13:31
sort of Dusty because you know think
13:34
think about you know the the sheetrock
13:36
and think about pain chips and how small
13:39
they are they will be inhaling it an
13:43
inhalation of pink dust is just as
13:49
devastating as eating it because you are
13:52
sucking it in all the time as opposed to
13:56
eating the pain chip so that’s another
13:58
way that older children who were in an
14:01
apartment who may that may have LD on
14:04
the wall and may have paint chips or
14:06
cracks from water damage or from
14:08
pointing outside become lead poison and
14:12
the last way which I’m sure that many of
14:15
us remember the water in Flint Michigan
14:21
where the water system was infiltrated
14:25
by lit
14:27
significantly that these children are
14:29
bathing in it drinking it their parents
14:33
are cooking in it and again there was
14:36
lead in pipes and coating of pipes and
14:40
so even in the city of New York while
14:42
it’s not as prevalent in terms of water
14:45
there are buildings which have become
14:48
toxic from the lead in the water and
14:51
these are the ways that they become lead
14:54
poison the other kind of kitties that
14:57
we’ve had besides for against the
14:59
landlord in their own apartment is
15:02
listen what two sets of parents don’t
15:04
work these days so what do they do they
15:06
bring their children to daycare so they
15:08
bring it to a daycare center those
15:09
daycare centers are just experiencing
15:12
the same type of problems with lead over
15:16
the years as does an apartment so we’ve
15:19
had cases involving entities that we’ve
15:21
sued because and at a child care
15:24
facility you know a babysitting facility
15:28
under the serm condition
15:29
so that’s a little history about lead
15:31
poisoning and how we get involved in
15:33
cases