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Thomas v. Mallett7/15/2005
s part of the painters' trade." Hamilton's concerns were not unfounded. In 1910, a bill was introduced in Congress, in the House of Representatives, that would have required " hat the introduction into any state . . . of any white lead or mixed paint containing white lead which is not labeled with a skull and crossbones and the words 'Poison; white lead' is hereby prohibited." That bill was defeated. Although protective regulatory legislation would have likely yielded beneficial results, " he total prohibition of lead paint for use in interior work would do more than anything else to improve conditions in the painting trade," Hamilton stated.
The appreciation of the dangers lead paint posed inside the home to the residents was also emerging during this time. In July 1904, in its monthly publication The S.W.P., Sherwin-Williams publicized the hazards of white lead paint. Under the bold headline, "DANGERS OF WHITE LEAD," Sherwin-Williams reported that a committee in France had been appointed to investigate the use of white lead and other lead mixtures for painting houses. Sherwin-Williams noted that one of the committee's experts indicated that lead paints were "poisonous in a large degree, both for the workmen and for the inhabitants of a house painted with lead colors." Sherwin-Williams also noted that the expert was of the opinion "that the absolute disuse of white lead has become an imperative necessity." Nevertheless, six years later, in 1910, Sherwin-Williams began manufacturing white lead carbonate after it acquired a white lead processing plant. Moreover, in 1917, during the First World War, Sherwin-Williams advised the War Department that government specifications for 50 percent white lead carbonate paint for war helmets should be replaced with its lead-free lithopone pigment. Sherwin-Williams stated that the advantage of switching to its lithopone pigment was that the danger from lead poisoning was entirely eliminated.
In 1914, the director of the scientific section of the Paint Manufacturers' Association of the United States, Henry A. Gardner, also warned of the hazards lead paint posed to residents. After detailing the efforts made to prevent workers from the hazards of lead dust in factories, Gardner asked why similar care was not being used to guard against lead dust in public buildings. Gardner observed that many tons of white leaded paint had been applied to the inside of schools and hospitals. And with white lead carbonate dust resulting from the gradual disintegration of this paint, Gardner noted that just as was the case with industrial workers, the presence of such dust in the room's atmosphere was very dangerous.
In 1919, the International Labour Organization held a meeting in Washington to enlist U.S. support in regulating white lead. Following this meeting was a conference in Geneva in 1921, under the auspices of the League of Nations, which was attended by 400 delegates from 40 countries. That conference resulted in a recommendation that lead paint be banned altogether for interior uses. Industry press reviews in the United States viewed the recommendation as a sinister plot by labor interests. The industry press reviews happily reported that there was little danger of any bans on lead paint in the United States.
In 1939, the National Paint Varnish and Lacquer Association (NPVLA) confidentially warned its members----which included National Lead, Sherwin Williams, Glidden, and W.P. Fuller----that white lead pigments were toxic. This letter, marked "CONFIDENTIAL Not for Publication," stated:
he vital factor concerning toxic materials is to intelligently safeguard the public. People may feel safer in buying materials whose danger
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