For most readers outside Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse is known for being the newly elected Democratic senator who replaced Republican Lincoln Chafee, thereby helping the Democrats take control of the Senate. But for the people of Rhode Island, Whitehouse is also known as the former State Attorney General who initiated what is proving to be one of the most important public health victories of the past century.

Early this year Judge Michael Silverstein issued a ruling affirming a jury verdict in the longest civil trial in Rhode Island history. The jury held three lead pigment manufacturers responsible for an environmental and public health tragedy that over the past century has caused lead poisoning among tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of children, who ingested lead dust and flakes of decaying lead paint from the walls of houses and public buildings before it was banned in 1978. This is a groundbreaking decision, for it is the first time the industry has been held accountable for the terrible toll lead pigment has taken. It also marks the first effective strategy for actually ending the nightmare of lead poisoning.

For much of the past century, public health officials have dealt with lead poisoning by treating children with high lead levels in their blood. Damage from lead poisoning is permanent, and treatment to prevent further damage by removing kids from their homes or detoxifying them through chelation therapy (an intrusive method requiring repeated hospitalization) is palliative at best. More often than not, children have been sent back into homes only to be poisoned again.

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.