Get the Lead Out

By Bethany “BST2” Armstrong

Nearly seven years ago, Flint Michigan switched it’s water supply to the Flint River in an effort to save money. The Flint River that has long been the depository of industrial waste and raw sewage, has been rumored to have caught fire – twice -, is highly corrosive, was tied to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease which killed 12, had elevated total trihalomethanes (cancer causing chemicals from over chlorinating water) … all pumped through lead pipes. 9000 children drinking and bathing in lead-poisoned toxic water for 18 months.

The city of Flint passed an ordinance in 1897 that required all connections to water mains be made with lead. That sounds like a long time ago, but the toxicity of lead was first documented around 2000 BC by Dioscerides who wrote “Lead makes the mind give way.” Benjamin Franklin and Charles Dickens wrote about professions that worked with lead and the common illnesses associated with them including “colic” “dangles” (wrist drop) and brain damage.

There is no safe level of lead in water. Lead is lethal in ways you might not expect. Not only does it decrease IQ and increase impulsivity, it can also lead to madness and death. It increases the likelihood of violent criminal behavior and there are theories that lead exposure contributed the rise in serial killers in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Findings indicate that exposure to lead leads to much higher murder rates 20 years later. In another 13-14 years-ish; it’ll be time to pay the piper. We will be paying for Flint’s crimes against humanity with increases in disabilities, violent crimes, perpetuated poverty… all to save a few bucks.

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