Sherwin-Williams: covering our communities with toxics.

• Position: Lead: The Poisoning Continues

The Sherwin-Williams Company is one of the primary culprits in the story about how lead paint continues to poison children across America. Their image is that of a friendly, neighborhood paint store, just down the street. This image belies their century-long record of contributing to serious environmental hazards in communities across the country.

Sherwin-Williams is a multinational corporation with consolidated net sales in 2005 of $7.19 billion. They operate the largest number of specialty paint stores in the United States. Because of its size and market share, Sherwin-Williams has the largest obligation of any paint manufacturer to take the lead in being environmentally conscientious. This report examines if the company has lived up to this obligation.

First -- Selling lead paint while knowing it was toxic

Sherwin-Williams continued to sell lead-based paint for decades after they knew it was dangerous. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust found in older, run-down buildings is the most common source of lead exposure for children. Lead poisoning is one of the most common environmental child health problems in the United States. Caused by high levels of lead in the blood, effects of lead poisoning can include learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and even death. Each year over 300,000 children under the age of five suffer from lead poisoning.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

An estimated 25 million homes in the United States contain lead hazards. The cost of containing or abating this danger ranges from $20 billion to $170 billion, depending on the extent of the cleanup. Most of the burden of testing for lead and lead remediation has fallen on the government and property owners. Some cities and states have been trying to sue the companies who sold lead-based paint. The first successful suit was in the state of Rhode Island where it was decided in February 2006 that three companies, including Sherwin-Williams, were liable for creating a public nuisance. The amount of money these companies will have to pay will be the next step in that case. Other cases in California and New Jersey are moving ahead.

There is evidence dating back to 1899 that the Sherwin-Williams Company knew that lead-based paint was poisonous. Despite this knowledge, they sold lead-based paint from 1910 into the 1970s and manufactured it directly from 1910-1947. During the 20th...