Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan: April 25, 2014 - TBD; 5 Michigan Health Officials Charged
afterlife2009
Superstar
#Flint: Black Women-Owned Construction Company Awarded Contract to Replace Contaminated Water Pipes
WT Stevens Construction, a construction management and services firm based in Flint, Mich., is the only black-owned company to be awarded a service contract to replace contaminated water pipes across the city.
The Network Journal reports that WT Stevens is “one of just four companies recently contracted—under a court order—to replace more than 18,000 lead corroded pipes.”
The family-owned company was founded by W.T. Stevens in the late 1990s. When Stevens died in 2002, Rhonda Grayer and her seven siblings joined together and began the work of continuing his legacy.
According to The Hub Flint, “the company has hired about 20 staff, ranging from clerical and general laborers to plumbers and machine operators. Among the added personnel are ex-offenders and youth, two segments of Flint’s population the company recognizes for unique training and experience needs.”
“[My father] trained many people ... This is the biggest project we’ve done,” Grayer said. “I will tell you that it is really exciting and the most important part of it is the opportunity to employ people who may not have had other opportunities.”
Rhonda Grayer’s husband, former NBA player Jeff Grayer, serves as project manager and shared that the project is important on several levels.
“This is a major project that will ensure public safety and start rebuilding trust between the city and the community ... something that has been missing awhile,” he said in an interview with The Network Journal.com.
Grayer said the target is to have all 18,000 lead corroded residential pipes replaced by December 2019, with 6,000 being replaced by the end of the year.”
http://www.theroot.com/flint-black-...source=theroot_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
WT Stevens Construction, a construction management and services firm based in Flint, Mich., is the only black-owned company to be awarded a service contract to replace contaminated water pipes across the city.
The Network Journal reports that WT Stevens is “one of just four companies recently contracted—under a court order—to replace more than 18,000 lead corroded pipes.”
The family-owned company was founded by W.T. Stevens in the late 1990s. When Stevens died in 2002, Rhonda Grayer and her seven siblings joined together and began the work of continuing his legacy.
According to The Hub Flint, “the company has hired about 20 staff, ranging from clerical and general laborers to plumbers and machine operators. Among the added personnel are ex-offenders and youth, two segments of Flint’s population the company recognizes for unique training and experience needs.”
“[My father] trained many people ... This is the biggest project we’ve done,” Grayer said. “I will tell you that it is really exciting and the most important part of it is the opportunity to employ people who may not have had other opportunities.”
Rhonda Grayer’s husband, former NBA player Jeff Grayer, serves as project manager and shared that the project is important on several levels.
“This is a major project that will ensure public safety and start rebuilding trust between the city and the community ... something that has been missing awhile,” he said in an interview with The Network Journal.com.
Grayer said the target is to have all 18,000 lead corroded residential pipes replaced by December 2019, with 6,000 being replaced by the end of the year.”
http://www.theroot.com/flint-black-...source=theroot_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
afterlife2009
Superstar
Study: Flint water killed unborn babies; many moms who drank it couldn't get pregnant
Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press
Published 7:53 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2017 | Updated 12:01 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2017
Kansas University assistant professor of economics David Slusky explains his study of the Flint water crisis’ impact on fertility rates and fetus deaths in the city. Kansas University
Babies born in Flint after switch to river water also nearly 150 grams lighter than those born in other areas of Michigan, and gained less weight.
The city of Flint saw fewer pregnancies, and a higher number of fetal deaths, during the period women and their fetuses were exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, according to a new research study that reviewed health records from Flint and the state.
Fertility rates decreased by 12% among Flint women, and fetal death rates increased by 58%, after April 2014, according to research by assistant professors and health economists David Slusky at Kansas University and Daniel Grossman at West Virginia University. The pair examined vital statistics data for Flint and the rest of the state of Michigan from 2008 to 2015, zoomed down to the census-tract level.
That post-April 2014 time period is significant, because that's when — in an effort to save money — the city of Flint switched from water supplied by the city of Detroit to using the Flint River as a drinking water source, without adding needed anti-corrosives to the water. Lead levels in drinking water supplies spiked as a result.
Flint water case: First manslaughter hearing to show what's at stake for Schuette, Snyder
The problem, however, wasn't acknowledged by Gov. Rick Snyder and state health and environmental officials until late September 2015 — months after Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency manager Miguel Del Toral alerted state and federal officials of their concerns, and weeks after Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha's own research showed children's lead blood levels were rising in Flint.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead can damage a developing baby's nervous system, causing miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as infertility in men and women. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some women used lead pills to terminate pregnancies.
Additionally, state health officials confirmed 91 cases, including 12 deaths, from Legionnaire's Disease, a respiratory infection, in Genesee County in a 17-month period in 2014-15. Though not conclusively tied to the Flint water crisis, cases spiked after the city switched its water source.
Flint has since switched back to Great Lakes Water Authority-supplied water.
There is no safe level of lead in the body, but the impacts of lead are considered most severe on the developing brains and nervous systems of children and fetuses. It can lead to lower intelligence, behavioral problems and diminished life achievement, according to researchers. And the damage is irreversible; it cannot be undone.
Fifteen state and local officials have been criminally indicted as a result of their alleged actions and inactions in the Flint water crisis, including Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, state Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells, and Liane Shekter-Smith, the fired head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's drinking water unit.
Lyon's preliminary examination, which will determine if his case proceeds to trial, is scheduled to begin Thursday morning in a Flint courtroom.
In the Kansas study, Flint's birth and fetal death data was compared to similar data from 15 other large Michigan cities, including Detroit.
On fertility rates, "Flint's numbers fell off a cliff, and the rest of the cities stayed pretty much constant" after April 2014, Slusky said.
"We weren’t particularly surprised by this, but we didn’t expect it be as clean and clear as it was."
The researchers looked at the number of women of child-bearing age in Flint and other large Michigan cities, and the number of live births, to calculate a birth rate for each city. Comparing Flint to other large Michigan cities helped mitigate for other factors that might affect birth rates, such as couples holding off on having children after the economic recession beginning in fall 2008, Slusky said.
Researchers also attempted to account for concerns by Flint residents about their city's water quality, and whether that led to any decision to wait on children. The researchers examined Google data for searches from Flint on "lead" and "lead poisoning," but found no increases in such searches until September 2015.
"During most of our time period, when the city and state officials were saying there was no problem, we didn't see any evidence of knowledge about lead in the water," Slusky said.
American Time Use Survey results showed Flint residents did not report any less sexual activity during the time period, he said.
"Either Flint residents were unable to conceive children, or women were having more miscarriages during this time," Slusky said.
Related: Flint doctor examines link between miscarriages, water
The fetal deaths data is more limited, as state statistics are only kept for fetuses that die after 20 weeks and in a hospital, Slusky said. As a result, such deaths are recorded in very low numbers, "maybe one child per 5,000 women," he said.
While less statistically certain than the observed drop in fertility rates, the similarity of findings on fetal death increases in Flint to those from research done by Edwards in Washington, D.C., after residents were exposed to elevated lead levels in drinking water from 2000 to 2004, "suggests that what we are finding is not implausible," Slusky said.
Additional findings from Slusky's and Grossman's research included that the sex ratio of babies born in Flint skewed slightly more female following the water change. Other scientific research has shown male fetuses are more fragile.
Babies born in Flint were also nearly 150 grams lighter than in other areas, were born a half-week earlier and gained 5 grams per week less than babies in other areas examined over the time period.
Slusky's and Grossman's research appears in a working paper distributed as part of the Kansas University Economics Department’s Working Papers Series in Theoretical and Applied Economics. It has not yet been peer reviewed by other scientists, Slusky said.
Edwards, who has continued to work on assuring the safety of Flint's water from lead in the nearly two years since the crisis came to light, said in an e-mail he has not seen the data behind the researchers' findings.
"The magnitude of the adverse pregnancy outcome effect appears to be somewhat larger than I would have predicted, based on the water lead exposures that we think occurred — but then again, what we think occurred is very often wrong," he said.
"This will certainly prompt a flurry of research by others, to try and replicate the results."
Slusky said he hopes his findings inform policy-makers.
"Flint was a government failure — enough people have been indicted that there’s a reasonable consensus around that," he said.
"We know monitoring the water, and putting the right types of anti-corrosives in it, is not free, is not cheap. Now I’ve told you what the cost of not doing something is, and what the benefit is. That’s the hope of this kind of research; quantify the benefit."
Contact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.
Keith Matheny, Detroit Free Press
Published 7:53 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2017 | Updated 12:01 p.m. ET Sept. 21, 2017
Kansas University assistant professor of economics David Slusky explains his study of the Flint water crisis’ impact on fertility rates and fetus deaths in the city. Kansas University
Babies born in Flint after switch to river water also nearly 150 grams lighter than those born in other areas of Michigan, and gained less weight.
The city of Flint saw fewer pregnancies, and a higher number of fetal deaths, during the period women and their fetuses were exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, according to a new research study that reviewed health records from Flint and the state.
Fertility rates decreased by 12% among Flint women, and fetal death rates increased by 58%, after April 2014, according to research by assistant professors and health economists David Slusky at Kansas University and Daniel Grossman at West Virginia University. The pair examined vital statistics data for Flint and the rest of the state of Michigan from 2008 to 2015, zoomed down to the census-tract level.
That post-April 2014 time period is significant, because that's when — in an effort to save money — the city of Flint switched from water supplied by the city of Detroit to using the Flint River as a drinking water source, without adding needed anti-corrosives to the water. Lead levels in drinking water supplies spiked as a result.
Flint water case: First manslaughter hearing to show what's at stake for Schuette, Snyder
The problem, however, wasn't acknowledged by Gov. Rick Snyder and state health and environmental officials until late September 2015 — months after Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency manager Miguel Del Toral alerted state and federal officials of their concerns, and weeks after Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha's own research showed children's lead blood levels were rising in Flint.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead can damage a developing baby's nervous system, causing miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as infertility in men and women. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, some women used lead pills to terminate pregnancies.
Additionally, state health officials confirmed 91 cases, including 12 deaths, from Legionnaire's Disease, a respiratory infection, in Genesee County in a 17-month period in 2014-15. Though not conclusively tied to the Flint water crisis, cases spiked after the city switched its water source.
Flint has since switched back to Great Lakes Water Authority-supplied water.
There is no safe level of lead in the body, but the impacts of lead are considered most severe on the developing brains and nervous systems of children and fetuses. It can lead to lower intelligence, behavioral problems and diminished life achievement, according to researchers. And the damage is irreversible; it cannot be undone.
Fifteen state and local officials have been criminally indicted as a result of their alleged actions and inactions in the Flint water crisis, including Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, state Chief Medical Executive Eden Wells, and Liane Shekter-Smith, the fired head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's drinking water unit.
Lyon's preliminary examination, which will determine if his case proceeds to trial, is scheduled to begin Thursday morning in a Flint courtroom.
In the Kansas study, Flint's birth and fetal death data was compared to similar data from 15 other large Michigan cities, including Detroit.
On fertility rates, "Flint's numbers fell off a cliff, and the rest of the cities stayed pretty much constant" after April 2014, Slusky said.
"We weren’t particularly surprised by this, but we didn’t expect it be as clean and clear as it was."
The researchers looked at the number of women of child-bearing age in Flint and other large Michigan cities, and the number of live births, to calculate a birth rate for each city. Comparing Flint to other large Michigan cities helped mitigate for other factors that might affect birth rates, such as couples holding off on having children after the economic recession beginning in fall 2008, Slusky said.
Researchers also attempted to account for concerns by Flint residents about their city's water quality, and whether that led to any decision to wait on children. The researchers examined Google data for searches from Flint on "lead" and "lead poisoning," but found no increases in such searches until September 2015.
"During most of our time period, when the city and state officials were saying there was no problem, we didn't see any evidence of knowledge about lead in the water," Slusky said.
American Time Use Survey results showed Flint residents did not report any less sexual activity during the time period, he said.
"Either Flint residents were unable to conceive children, or women were having more miscarriages during this time," Slusky said.
Related: Flint doctor examines link between miscarriages, water
The fetal deaths data is more limited, as state statistics are only kept for fetuses that die after 20 weeks and in a hospital, Slusky said. As a result, such deaths are recorded in very low numbers, "maybe one child per 5,000 women," he said.
While less statistically certain than the observed drop in fertility rates, the similarity of findings on fetal death increases in Flint to those from research done by Edwards in Washington, D.C., after residents were exposed to elevated lead levels in drinking water from 2000 to 2004, "suggests that what we are finding is not implausible," Slusky said.
Additional findings from Slusky's and Grossman's research included that the sex ratio of babies born in Flint skewed slightly more female following the water change. Other scientific research has shown male fetuses are more fragile.
Babies born in Flint were also nearly 150 grams lighter than in other areas, were born a half-week earlier and gained 5 grams per week less than babies in other areas examined over the time period.
Slusky's and Grossman's research appears in a working paper distributed as part of the Kansas University Economics Department’s Working Papers Series in Theoretical and Applied Economics. It has not yet been peer reviewed by other scientists, Slusky said.
Edwards, who has continued to work on assuring the safety of Flint's water from lead in the nearly two years since the crisis came to light, said in an e-mail he has not seen the data behind the researchers' findings.
"The magnitude of the adverse pregnancy outcome effect appears to be somewhat larger than I would have predicted, based on the water lead exposures that we think occurred — but then again, what we think occurred is very often wrong," he said.
"This will certainly prompt a flurry of research by others, to try and replicate the results."
Slusky said he hopes his findings inform policy-makers.
"Flint was a government failure — enough people have been indicted that there’s a reasonable consensus around that," he said.
"We know monitoring the water, and putting the right types of anti-corrosives in it, is not free, is not cheap. Now I’ve told you what the cost of not doing something is, and what the benefit is. That’s the hope of this kind of research; quantify the benefit."
Contact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.
Socialism....
If this was the private sector who did this.....
If this was the private sector who did this.....
FLINT, MI - Flint's lead-in-water contamination crisis caused lower fertility rates and higher infant death rates, a new study says.
David Slusky and Daniel Grossman - two economics professors from the University of Kansas - released their findings from a working paper on Wednesday, Sept. 20, after analyzing data and comparing Flint birth and death certificates with those issued in other Michigan cities in a several-year time period before Flint changed water sources and after its use of contaminated water in April 2014.
According to Slusky and Grossman's analysis, after Flint switched its water source from Detroit to Flint River water in 2014, the city's fertility rates decreased by 12 percent among Flint women, while fetal death rates rose by 58 percent.
The overall health of Flint children at birth decreased as well, compared with children from other Michigan cities, the study reported.
"This represents a couple hundred fewer children born that otherwise would have been," Slusky said.
The economists' study looked to chart the potential causes of lead in Flint, as the effects of lead in the water on fertility and birth outcomes have not been well-established, Slusky said in the study.
Children born in the wake of Flint's use of lead-contaminated water were also affected, the study said. Researchers found a five percent decline in the average birth weight of Flint babies during the time the city was using contaminated water, compared with other Michigan children after accounting for potential selection of effects where lead caused the mother with the smallest fetuses to miscarry or have stillbirths.
The researchers also analyzed Flint's Google search data, to find when residents began searching lead and lead poisoning-related terms, which could indicate concerns about the effects of the lead in the water and could possibly influence potential parents' decision to having children, the study said.
However, results showed that residents did not begin searches on lead poisoning until research on the lead in Flint's water came to light in September 2015.
Less sexual activity was also not reported during the time period, meaning that "either Flint residents were unable to conceive children, or women were having more miscarriages during this time," Slusky said.
The information from the University of Kansas seemingly contradicts information in a draft report developed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in July 2015, concluding that there is no "evidence that indicates the water switch" in Flint caused higher fetal death rates and other negative birth outcomes in the city.
A spokesperson for the DHHS was not immediately available for comment on the University of Kansas study.
Flint has a history of high infant mortality rates, nearly double the rate of the state as a whole from 2011 until 2015, according to Genesee County Health Department statistics.
Health professionals, including Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, have raised questions about whether the elevated level of lead in Flint's drinking water after the city's water source changed in April 2014 may have caused those rates to rise even further.
The city's water source was changed to the Flint River for 17 months in a cost-saving move while Flint was being run by emergency financial managers appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
The water source was changed back to the Great Lakes Water Authority in October 2015 after local, state and federal officials said improperly treated river water had damaged lead service lines and home plumbing, causing the toxin to leach into drinking water.
The Center for Disease Control says too much lead in a pregnant woman's body puts her at risk of miscarriage as well as increasing the risk of babies being born too early or too small.
The agency says lead can also damage a baby's nervous system and affect behavior and intelligence because lead can cross the placental barrier, exposing both mother and unborn child.
Continue to full story here: Lead in Flint water increased fetal deaths, lowered fertility, study says
JoogJoint
In my own league.
I seriously think that the lead in the water was a way to control the African American population in this country. Flint was just a "tryout location."
DonFrancisco
Your Favorite Tio!
By both administrations to be fair. Heads should have been rolling under Obama but that would mean rocking the Democratic boat.
exactly Obeezy didnt do too much either, can expect less from 45
yeah this was already touched on in our flint thread...will merge