After key donations, GOP tried to keep poisoned kids from suing lead makers

[Sunlei]

Between 2011 and 2012, large, secret donations from the billionaire owner of one of America’s leading lead producers provided critical support to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republican-led legislature as they weathered recall elections. Not coincidentally, around that time the lawmakers passed two laws that would effectively make it impossible for childhood victims of lead poisoning to sue lead companies, according to leaked documents obtained by The Guardian.

Since the laws were passed, federal courts have overturned key elements of them, ruling them unconstitutional and allowing legal challenges to go forward. However, if the laws had stayed in effect, they would have spared lead industries from potentially paying out millions in damages to hundreds of victims who were exposed to extremely high doses of the poisonous metal through paint during childhood.

According to the leaked documents—which were assembled during a state investigation into alleged campaign finance violations—the GOP got several key donations in between those two legislative moves. Harold Simmons, the billionaire owner of NL industries, a leading producer of lead previously used for lead paints, wrote three checks, totaling $750,000, during that time. The checks were made out to the Wisconsin Club for Growth, then run by one of Gov. Walker’s top advisors.

Lead-based paint and lead-toting dust from crumbling paint remain the leading source of lead poisoning in the US. The CDC estimates that about 24 million homes in the country are contaminated, more than 4 million of which house one or more children.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/after-key-donations-gop-tried-to-keep-poisoned-kids-from-suing-lead-makers/

[MichMan]

1. Don't see how lead producers would be liable for paint

According to the article, if I read it correctly, the companies that were removed from liability for lead poisoning were the actual producers of the lead itself. I repeat NOT THE PAINT , but the actual lead used as a component.

Lead is a necessary component in many products and the paint industry was just one of the industries that used it. Don't understand how the lead suppliers are liable for it's end use in other products that they do not produce themselves.

Is the steel industry legally liable because it is used to make guns that kill people? For that matter, bullets have lead in them. Should we hold the lead industry responsible for murders ?