What is the Public Advocate doing to protect children?
Lead-based paint in New Jersey housing is one of the principal causes of lead exposure among the state’s children. Because lead-based paint was not banned from residential use nationwide until 1978 and because New Jersey has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, at least 2 million New Jersey housing units contain lead-based paint, threatening any children who live inside them. In 2006, the Department filed a friend-of-the court brief in the New Jersey Supreme Court to support municipalities in their suits against paint manufacturers to recover some of the costs of removing or encapsulating lead paint in older buildings. Although the state Supreme Court rejected the legal theory under which the muncipalities had pressed their case, the court recognized the magnitude of the problem of lead poisoning in New Jersey. The decision leaves the door open for other kinds of legal actions against landlords who do not make their buildings safe and manufacturers who sell products containi
Lead-based paint in New Jersey housing is one of the principal causes of lead exposure among the state’s children. Because lead-based paint was not banned from residential use nationwide until 1978 and because New Jersey has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, at least 2 million New Jersey housing units contain lead-based paint, threatening any children who live inside them. In 2006, the Department filed a friend-of-the court brief in the New Jersey Supreme Court to support municipalities in their suits against paint manufacturers to recover some of the costs of removing or encapsulating lead paint in older buildings. Although the state Supreme Court rejected the legal theory under which the municipalities had pressed their case, the court recognized the magnitude of the problem of lead poisoning in New Jersey. The decision leaves the door open for other kinds of legal actions against landlords who do not make their buildings safe and manufacturers who sell products contain
