Elisabeth Parker\
Lead Poisoning Rates Nearly Double For Children In Flint, Mich. After GOP Budget Cuts Force Water System Change.
While gawking at the latest craziness from Das Trumpenfuror, we’ve missed the real big story. ABC reports Mayor Karen Weaver has proclaimed the City of Flint to be in a state of emergency, due to toxic drinking water and a sudden and alarming increase in the rate of lead poisoning in children. The Washington Post reports:
For months, worried parents in Flint, Mich., arrived at their pediatricians’ offices in droves. Holding a toddler by the hand or an infant in their arms, they all have the same question: Are their children being poisoned?
The test for lead poisoning requires only a quick blood draw, but once babies and toddlers have been exposed, the results can be devastating: Children exposed to toxic amounts of lead have shorter attention spans, less impulse control, tend to act out more, and are more likely to have these issues and commit violent crimes as adults. Alas, the parents of Flint got some bad news back in Sept. The rate of lead poisoning in children has nearly doubled since budget cuts forced the city to get its water from the Flint River instead of Detroit’s water system.
The Hurley Medical Center, in Flint, released a study in September that confirmed what many Flint parents had feared for over a year: The proportion of infants and children with above-average levels of lead in their blood has nearly doubled since the city switched from the Detroit water system to using the Flint River as its water source, in 2014.
When we began phasing out leaded gasoline for cars in the late 1970’s, banned lead paint in 1978, and launched lead abatement programs to remove or seal the lead paint in homes, the rate of lead poisoning dropped drastically. But in low-income, formerly industrial cities like Flint, lead pollution didn’t go away. Instead, it lingers in the ground, air, and water…and in old pipes.
http://reverbpress.com/environment/lead-poisoning-toxic-water-flint/
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