Lead Based

The dust was thick enough that Sally Dworak-Fisher could trace letters in it with her finger. She feared that particles from rehab work next door were drifting into her Federal Hill home and coating many surfaces — even under the bathroom sink. But when she and other neighbors of the property contacted federal, state and local authorities about concerns that dust at the Henrietta Street house might contain toxic lead, everyone said some other agency was responsible. The residents' complaints, made earlier this month, demonstrate a breakdown at every level of government in the enforcement of laws and regulations meant to protect the public from the hazards of lead-based paint.

Baltimore's housing bureau does not have to pay a $2.6 million jury award to two siblings who say they were poisoned by lead paint when they lived in public residences as toddlers, a Maryland intermediate appellate court ruled Thursday. The decision, written by Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff of the Court of Special Appeals, hinges on the siblings not having filed notice of their claim within 180 days of their injury, as required by the state statute that governs personal injury suits against local governments.

Dear Mr. Gisriel:I own several rental real estate properties in the Baltimore metropolitan area. My question is: What is the current status of the federal and state "Lead Paint Registration" laws? Also, where can I get more information?Alan WalshBaltimoreDear Mr. Walsh:Your question is a timely one. On the federal level, after Dec. 6, 1996, all owners of rental properties -- both owners of more than four properties and owners of less than four properties -- are covered by the federal lead paint regulations.

Two Baltimore lawmakers are backing legislation that would make it easier for victims of lead poisoning to sue manufacturers of lead-based paint for damages. The bill -- which would hold paint manufacturers responsible for harming thousands of Maryland children based on how much lead-based paint they sold in the state -- would help Baltimore attorney Peter G. Angelos pursue two lawsuits he has filed against the pigment industry. Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg said yesterday that he is drafting a bill that would allow "market-share liability" claims against lead-paint manufacturers in Maryland courts.

A Taneytown husband and wife will be able to continue to live in a mobile home on their Trevanion Road property while lead paint is removed from their house.The Carroll County Board of Zoning Appeals agreed to allow David E. Williams Jr. and his wife, Jane, to continue to live in their mobile home until Jan. 1. A county law allows people to live in trailers on their property for one year while a home is being rebuilt or repaired; the couple was given a six-month extension.The Williamses and their two young sons had to move out of the house after they learned that lead paint dust was poisoning the ** children.

WASHINGTON -- Americans' exposure to lead has declined greatly in the past 15 years, but the toxic metal remains a major health threat for nearly 2 million young children, particularly inner-city black youngsters in cities like Baltimore, federal health officials reported today.A nationwide federal health survey summarized in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association reports that levels of lead in the blood of children and adults dropped by 78 percent from 1976 to 1991.Hailing it as a "remarkable public health achievement," officials for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed declining lead exposures to the government's removal of the metal from gasoline, water and consumer products, including food cans and house paint.

In a bid to get more property owners to obey cleanup orders, Baltimore health officials are easing the requirements for removing hazardous lead paint from properties where children have been poisoned.Seeking to break a political deadlock between the city's landlords and public health advocates, officials have decided to try a one-year experiment in which property owners will not be required, as they are now, to remove or cover all lead-based paint found in their properties.The new guidelines, to take effect this fall, could significantly lower the $14,000 average cost of totally "de-leading" a three-bedroom rowhouse, which has been a major stumbling block to efforts to prevent lead poisoning.

New York--When you bought your last house, you might have had it checked for termites and dry rot.When you buy your next one, you should check it for a wide range of environmental hazards as well.Almost any piece of property might, in the past, have had toxic substances buried there. Almost any vacant lot might be hit, in the night, by guys in dark shirts who are making an illegal dump. Almost any homeowner might turn on the tap and find the water stinking of chemicals from a nearby spill.

ORAVILLE -- It took more than 60 years, but the revenuers finally caught up with John M. Morgan Sr.The first time they chased him through the woods of St. Mary's County, he was a boy during Prohibition making a few dollars tending a bootlegger's still. He was nimble afoot in those days, and they never got him.But when he returned home to Oraville from breakfast on the morning of Dec. 29, Mr. Morgan, now 77, had nowhere to run. State and county officers surrounded his car and placed him under arrest.