‘One of the most damning things you can do to a population’
“If you were to put something in a population to keep them down for generations to come, it would be lead.
“It’s a well-known, potent neurotoxin. There’s tons of evidence on what lead does to a child, and it is one of the most damning things that you can do to a population.
“It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it’s been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child”
Thus spoke the valiant young mother and pediatric physician, Mona Hanna-Attisha, after having been first attacked, then vindicated by spokespersons of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for having broken the news of the high levels of lead in the Flint, Michigan, water system.
Her words and actions echoed what residents and parents of this economically devastated but formerly thriving community of Flint had long suspected.
Repercussions have brought the resignation of DEQ Director Dan Wyant―and the axe has not yet stopped swinging, with many calling for the resignation of Governor Rick Snyder and an end to the dictatorial emergency manager system he imposed on many bankrupt cities in Michigan, starting with poorer and majority-African communities such as Benton Harbor and Flint.
One of the first actions of the Flint emergency manager was to change the water source for this city of 100,000 from Detroit water to Flint River water – as a cost-saving measure, he claimed. The Flint River had not been used as a source of drinking water for nearly 50 years.
In fact, industrial waste from factories such as auto and raw sewage had long been dumped into the Flint River. Due to concern about corrosives in the water, even General Motors complained and managed to maintain the Detroit water as its water source.
The corrosives in the water leach out lead in water pipes. One half of the water lines in Flint are made of lead. Anti-corrosive additives that would have cost $100 per day for the whole city would have significantly reduced the lead problem. They were not added.
Children are the most susceptible to lead poisoning because they are rapidly growing and drink more water. Lead also crosses the placenta from pregnant mothers and affects fetuses.
Indeed, twelve million children in the U.S. under 7 years of age are potentially at risk of lead poisoning. They live in homes built before 1960, which used lead pipes, although problems have been seen even in homes built up to 1980. Lead causes a myriad of problems in adults, too.
What happened in Flint was totally preventable. It is an indictment of our public health system, our decrepit water delivery systems, and government that has abandoned those who built this country. What is not good for General Motors should not be good enough for us, either!
