Lead paint is sold and used in this country, much of the twentieth century. Even if New York was one of the first cities to legislate to ban the sale of lead paint in 1960, a total ban at the national level did not happen until 1978. Today, although its use is almost nonexistent, because the New York laws poisoning, buildings and houses built before 1960 continue to maintain the threat of poisoning from lead paint. 1990 census showed that New York has the largest share of pre-1960 housing. The city estimates that nearly two million units of housing have led to tens, about 50% is occupied by persons of low or moderate income, about 323 000 homes with lead paint are used families with children, and among that number, about 174 000 are occupied by low-income residents.
New York Law poisoning: the highest in the country
Until 1982, the city can be ordered to remove the lead paint until the child had been poisoned. Because lead poisoning is permanent disability, wait until the child has been poisoned by it was too late. That's why in 1982 the city enacted Local Law 1 (VL 1), New York, lead poisoning paint law that requires owners to immediately remove the lead paint in any residential structure, in which a child lived, before the child is been poisoned.
At that time, the LL 1 was one of the strongest laws in the country lead poisoning prevention. Number of lead poisoning in New York had fallen faster than any other U.S. city. The city has never fully implemented, however, the LL one, and many of the hazards of lead paint. Therefore, up to 30,000 children each year are estimated at dangerously high levels of lead in blood.
In 1985, the Coalition of New York at the end of lead poisoning (NYCCELP) filed a lawsuit against the city that gave rise to several court orders requiring the city to strictly enforce a LL. In 1996, the New York Court of Appeals said that under a LL, the owners had a duty to ensure that households with children were free of lead hazards.
New York City lead paint poisoning laws against the public interest
In 1999, the New York City's lead paint poisoning laws made a big step backwards, when the City Council led by President Peter Vallone, rolled lead poisoning laws providing for the Local Law 38 in 1999 (LL 38) protests leading experts on health public, physicians, residents associations, disability, education, environment, racial justice NGOs and trade unions. Among other things, the LL 38 has become cumbersome to detect and respond to lead hazards owners and tenants, removed lead dust released surveillance, significantly reduced the security measures and training time needed to lead to the removal of time-consuming implement up to six months, and tried to restrict the rights of children to civil proceedings, once poisoned.