Despite pact, stores lax on giving lead paint advice

A pact between the paint industry and state prosecutors aimed at fighting lead poisoning is often ignored at the retail level, according to spot checks by the Globe of a dozen Boston-area paint stores.

Spearheaded by Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly , the voluntary agreement signed in 2003 is widely trumpeted by paint makers and state regulators across the country as a major step in reducing the number of children poisoned after inhaling lead dust or ingesting lead paint chips. At the time, Reilly heralded it as giving ``real protection to families and consumers from the risks associated with home renovation projects," and his office and his gubernatorial campaign offer it as proof that he aggressively promotes lead cleanup and lead poisoning prevention.

But advocates working to prevent childhood lead poisoning say that the agreement lacks teeth and that it has done little to promote safe lead paint removal. ``The paint companies have not complied with this voluntary agreement," said Sandra J. Roseberry, vice president of the Maine-based American Lead Poisoning Help Association. ``The agreement was really a public relations attempt to ward off any litigation against them by the states, and it's really smoke and mirrors."

The contract between the National Paint and Coatings Association, a trade group, and 49 state attorneys general says that paint makers will put lead paint warning labels on paint cans, provide free nationwide training in safely removing lead paint, and offer discounts on paint cleanup equipment, such as respirators and vacuum filters. A spokesman for the group can point to numbers showing that all three initiatives are underway.

However, checks of local paint retailers found that another key provision of the agreement -- that educational brochures be available at stores -- is often breached, and that training in safe lead paint removal offered to maintenance workers, painting contractors, and homeowners, and others often doesn't reach the retail counter.

Meredith Baumann, a spokeswoman for Reilly , defended the pact, saying that the label warnings on paint cans are ``a signficant victory on behalf of consumers."

``Our agreement yielded a new national consumer product warning in an area in which the federal government failed to act, which means that labels detailing the dangers of sanding and scraping old paint are on every can of paint sold," Baumann said.

She also said that Reilly's office has conducted its own checks and raised shortcomings with industry officials. ``The agreement was groundbreaking, but, as with all agreements of this kind, it is a matter of `trust but verify,' " she said.

Only one store visited -- Sherwin-Williams Co. of Lexington -- raised the issue of lead paint proactively when asked how to remove paint from the interior woodwork of an old home. Asked the same question, employees at The Home Depot in Somerville, Tags Ace Hardware in Cambridge, and Wanamaker Hardware True Value in Arlington recommended scraping or sanding without first asking if lead paint could be present -- the worst possible method, since it could cause toxic dust to be inhaled. Tags did not retract its advice even after being told that the paint in question could be lead-based.

Hardware stores and retail paint shops are not bound by the agreement because it contains a substantial loophole: It applies only to paint manufacturers, which means the roughly 120,000 paint retailers nationwide are not required to take part in the effort.

Advocates fault the contract's standards for compliance and enforcement . The agreement says that the national paint trade group ``shall promote and encourage" the contract's provisions and submit annual reports, and that state attorneys general ``intend to monitor compliance." But it does not address penalties for violations.

Stephen R. Sides, a vice president for the trade group, said the agreement has been upheld ``splendidly and with full compliance by the industry." Since signing the pact, manufacturers have put warning labels on about 760 million gallons of paint, distributed more than 5 million educational brochures to retailers, and trained more than 10,000 contractors in safe work practices, he said.

Addressing the fact that the agreement does not cover retail outlets, Sides said: ``We continue to push to have these parties who are not subject to the agreement take on the chore of putting this information out there."

In Massachusetts, more than 1,300 children have been diagnosed over five years with lead poisoning, often related to paint, which can lead to learning disabilities, brain damage, and death.

Reilly has come under fire from advocates working to prevent childhood lead poisoning who say he rejected their request to file a lawsuit aimed at forcing the paint industry to fund lead paint cleanup nationwide, although Reilly's aides say he has not ruled out such litigation. Earlier this year, Rhode Island won a first-ever jury verdict requiring Sherwin-Williams Co. and two other paint makers to rid more than 300,000 Ocean State homes of lead contamination.

Reilly, who is running for governor, says on a campaign website that he ``led a successful multistate effort to require paint manufacturers to add warnings on paint cans and educate consumers about the dangers of lead exposure."

Other than the Sherwin-Williams employee, no one inquired whether the paint could contain lead or if the house had been built before 1978, the year lead paint was banned. When asked how to proceed if the paint is lead-based, Drive-In Paint Mart in South Boston and a different employee at Wanamaker specifically advised against scraping or sanding, while City Paint & Supply in North Cambridge, ICI Paints in the South End, and Salem Street True Value Hardware in the North End recommended expert removal.

At The Home Depot in Somerville, an employee first suggested the lead paint be sanded and encapsulated -- covered with a coating that provides a barrier between it and the environment -- but then warned that sanding ``might be dangerous."

At Sherwin-Williams in Lexington, industry-supplied brochures on lead-safe painting and home improvement were prominent on the front counter, next to a sign urging anyone planning to renovate a house built before 1978 to read one. But at half the stores, the brochures were not available.

John Wanamaker, the owner of Wanamaker, and Simon Shapiro, co-owner of Tags, said they and their senior employees know about the dangers of lead paint removal and would never recommend sanding lead paint, but that young and part-time employees sometimes give incorrect information to customers. Neither store offers formal staff training on safe lead paint removal, ``but I probably should after hearing these results," Wanamaker said.

A manager at The Home Depot referred calls to headquarters in Atlanta, where no one responded to a request for comment.

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.