It's OK to kill poor kids & their stupid parents, right?

You know what I like best about tort cases that are brought by states?  The general public doesn't automatically assume the case is frivolous and brought by a greedy trial lawyer. 

Rhode Island is suing a group of paint manufacturers that allegedly disregarded the dangers of lead paint poisoning because they believed it only was a problem in slums and for blacks.

"The trade association believed that childhood lead poisoning mostly affected blacks and other minorities in slum neighborhoods in the eastern United States and that the solution was to eliminate the slums and "educate the parents," Markowitz said, citing LIA documents from the 1950s.

But the association also thought the solution was unachievable because it was "impossible to clean up the slums and it was impossible to educate those parents," he added."

Worse still, the Defendants hired a PR agency to author a "scientific" study refuting the dangers of lead paint:

"A public relations firm hired in the early 1970s prepared a report on lead poisoning, and the association tried to get a "recognized scientist" to sign on as the author, Markowitz said."

Read more here at the Boston Globe.