You may remember the pictures from the water crisis five years ago in Flint, Michigan. Hundreds of angry residents holding up bottles of rust-colored water and demanding answers. Months of protests were waved off by officials who denied anything was wrong. The turning point came when a local pediatrician found conclusive proof that the children of Flint were being exposed to high levels of lead in their water and prompted the state to declare an emergency.
Larry Marshall: No. They lie so much and we know they lie, and I-- when they say something, it's like-- talking to the wind, you know. I don't believe nothing they say. None of the politicians, none of them. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: They were poisoned. I mean they were poisoned by this water. They were all exposed to toxic water.Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is a pediatrician in Flint, who her patients call"Dr. Mona."
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: There is no safe level of lead. We're never supposed to expose a population or a child to lead. Because we can't do much about it. It is an irreversible neurotoxin. It attacks the core of what it means to be you, and impacts cognition-- how children think. Actually drops IQ levels. It impacts behavior, leading to things like developmental delays. And it has these life-altering consequences.
Armed with the first medical evidence that kids were being exposed to lead from the water, Dr. Mona did something controversial. She quickly held a press conference to share the blood test study, before other doctors reviewed her work. Three years after the crisis began, the percentage of third graders in Flint who passed Michigan's standardized literacy test dropped from 41% to 10%.
Dotson says she and her daughters will continue to use bottled water for cooking and brushing their teeth.Sharyn Alfonsi: You don't feel whole right now?Kenyatta Dotson: Maybe it would've happened in-- in a rich, white suburb. Would it have continued for as long as it has? I don't believe so. The registry refers hundreds of kids to specialists who conduct 8 hours of neuro-psychological assessments of their behavior and development.Before the crisis, about 15% of the kids in Flint required special education services. But of the 174 children who went through the extensive neuro-exams, specialists determined that 80% will require help for a language, learning or intellectual disorder.Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha: So there's not much we can do. So there's no magic pill.
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