Why is there lead in the water
supply in Flint, Michigan? Why are people breaking out in rashes and losing
hair? Why was the doctor who sounded the alarm ignored? Most importantly why
aren’t criminal charges being brought against the politicos who made the poor
decisions for the citizens of this country to create such a unsafe environment
for American citizens? It was supposed to be a good decision when the then
mayor of Flint, Michigan shut off the water power supply from Detroit. They
then began pulling the water from the local Flint River to cut costs. This
decision had devastating consequences especially since they did not do enough
testing to even see if the water was safe.
Here we are 2 years later and the
region is in a state of Federal emergency. President Obama got involved and
released 80 Million dollars in aid to Michigan to help Flint fix the contaminated
water problem. The National Guard was called into service to distribute
thousands of bottled water to communities. Back in April 2014 no one knew about
the devastation that was put into action. Why? Why wasn’t the water tested for
safety for consumption? Even then complaints were pouring in about the
foul smell and lack of clarity in the water of which were ignored by the local
government. Then the mysterious illnesses popped up of severe rashes and
swelling of kin around the eyes. Children were experiencing loss of hair. Residents
soon were filling up emergency rooms with all kinds of ailments.
For almost two years complaints
from the residents of Flint went unanswered. Why? Why isn’t anyone in
government ever held accountable for anything horrible? It took one doctor who
narrowed down the problems to the high amount of lead in the contaminated water.
Led is a irreversible neurotoxin. Once it is in your body, the damage is done. Now that sounds like a big lawsuit to me. Who
do we sue? The Mayor for his poor decisions? Doctor Mona Hanna-Attisha who is
the Director of Pediatric Residency Program at the Hurley Medical Center was
one of the first to sound the alarm. Instead of being profusely thankfuzl by
the local government of her finding, she was ignored. Who has the nerve to
ignore medical professionals when faced with a health crisis?
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