0:03 is the glass half empty or half full
0:07 most of us just assume our water is safe
0:09 to drink not the citizens of Flint
0:12 Michigan our our cover story is reported
0:16 by Martha teichner dr. mona
0:19 hanna-attisha did not set out to be a
0:21 whistleblower it is my duty as a
0:24 pediatrician to to be an advocate for my
0:26 kids it was as simple and as complicated
0:30 as that dr. mona as she's called is a
0:33 pediatrician at Flint Michigan's public
0:35 hospital and a professor at Michigan
0:40 State University's College of Medicine I
0:42 happened to be kind of the right person
0:43 at the right place with the right
0:45 training at the right time the water
0:47 crisis literally kind of fell in my lap
0:51 a horrifying crisis that branded Flint
0:54 as the nation's poster child for
0:57 government gone wrong there are no fault
1:00 of their own they were poisoned by their
1:02 States government screwing something up
1:07 on April 25th 2014 Flint switched from
1:09 water purchased from the city of Detroit
1:12 to water pumped from the Flint River as
1:19 a way to save money it didn't take long
1:21 before Flint residents started
1:23 complaining that something was wrong
1:26 with the water dogs and cats are dying
1:29 the tomatoes were turning black my water
1:31 comes out of my faucets smelling like it
1:34 came out of someone's butt General
1:36 Motors took its local auto plant off
1:39 Flint water because it was corroding
1:42 engine parts and filtered water coolers
1:44 were installed in the state office
1:48 building and then the truth came out in
1:51 addition to disease-causing bacteria and
1:54 even carcinogens Flint's drinking water
1:58 was loaded with lead levels of lead one
2:00 sip would have caused her blood lad of
2:03 her child to be letting poison just one
2:07 sip of one sip of that water professor
2:09 Marc Edwards an internationally
2:11 recognized water safety expert at
2:13 Virginia Tech University
2:16 been called in by leanne walters a flint
2:19 mother with a sick child to test the
2:22 water at her home the first thing we did
2:23 is we worked with her over the phone to
2:26 sample her own water that showed her own
2:29 water was hazardous waste i thirteen
2:31 thousand parts per billion that's enough
2:35 if one glass of that water was ingested
2:37 that could possibly lies a child and the
2:40 federal threshold for action is about a
2:43 thousand times edwardses team then
2:46 tested homes citywide and found more
2:49 with high lead levels but the
2:52 authorities denied there was a problem
2:53 you know i freaked out because I know
2:55 what my does all pediatricians know what
2:58 lead does it's a irreversible neurotoxin
3:02 enter dr. Mona so I really went on this
3:04 quest to find out is that lead in the
3:06 water getting into the bodies of our
3:08 children I first tried to get that data
3:10 that surveillance data from the county
3:12 in the state and couldn't I thought that
3:15 was odd because they had this data
3:18 suspicious she was determined to find
3:21 out some other way our clinic here the
3:23 hurley children's clinic we see the most
3:25 Flint kids so we decided to look at our
3:28 own data and in record speed kind of ran
3:30 the numbers he's was also concerning on
3:33 September 24th 2015 dr. mona
3:37 hanna-attisha revealed that in the 17
3:39 months since the switch to Flint River
3:42 water the number of children with high
3:44 levels of lead in their blood had
3:47 doubled and in some neighborhoods
3:49 tripled for high-risk groups especially
3:52 those infants who are and the pregnant
3:54 moms we we would say no tap water
3:57 this was the frightening proof that
4:00 Flint water wasn't safe but still the
4:03 state stonewalled the DEQ spokesman
4:05 Department of Environmental Quality
4:08 called me an unfortunate researcher that
4:10 I was causing near hysteria the
4:13 governor's office spokesperson said that
4:15 I was splicing and dicing numbers and
4:17 how did that make you feel made me feel
4:21 really bad so I was after hiding under
4:23 the covers for a period I woke up around 3:00
4:24 3:00
4:26 and there was a kind you strength that I
4:28 found inside me and I realized that
4:31 every number in my research was actually
4:34 a kid a child I'd cared for and it was
4:36 those kids who got me out of bed and
4:40 said fight back fight back in a city
4:42 that for decades now seems to have been
4:47 fighting losing battles once Flint was
4:49 among the most prosperous communities in
4:52 the country the birthplace of General
4:55 Motors today GM's presence here is
4:58 dramatically reduced Flint's population
5:01 is half what it was in 1960 the cities
5:04 decimated neighborhoods often occupied
5:07 by people too poor to leave Flint's
5:10 finances were in such bad shape that in
5:13 2011 the state seized control of its
5:15 government and what becomes of the role
5:17 of the City Council in the mayor they're
5:19 still there but they're puppets they
5:20 haven't they have no role so if they
5:23 said we shouldn't be on Flint River
5:24 water and they did they voted to those
5:26 teddy council said hey we don't want to
5:27 be on Flint River water but it didn't
5:30 mean anything what was perceived in
5:32 Flint as the hijacking of democracy
5:35 resonated with dr. mona hanna-attisha
5:38 she's the daughter of Iraqi immigrants
5:41 who were afraid Everitt go home after
5:44 Saddam Hussein took power I was raised
5:47 in this milieu of acutely knowing what
5:51 injustice was and I grew up feeling so
5:54 lucky and so fortunate that I was here
5:57 dr. Moniz revelations were the game
6:01 changer they forced the state finally to
6:04 stop denying the undeniable blood levels
6:06 among children under six years of age in
6:07 other parts of the city of Flint were
6:09 two times that of the rest of Genesee
6:13 County a state conceded that yes we
6:15 looked at our numbers and yes there is a
6:19 lie problem it turns out vital chemicals
6:22 required by law to control corrosion in
6:26 old lead pipes were not added after the
6:28 switch to Flint River water causing lead
6:30 to flake off
6:33 Flint reconnected to Detroit's water
6:36 system and Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder
6:37 Snyder
6:40 apologized I know apologies won't make
6:41 up for the mistakes that were made
6:44 nothing well but I take full
6:48 responsibility to fix the problem so
6:49 never happen again
6:52 fifteen current or former state and city
6:55 officials and staff were indicted as a
6:58 result of contaminants in Flint's water
7:01 like water money has been pumped into
7:04 Flint over half a billion dollars from
7:05 the federal government from the state
7:08 and from private donations all of the
7:12 city's lead pipes are being replaced a
7:16 showplace preschool was built a registry
7:18 was established to monitor the health of
7:22 anyone affected but then this spring the
7:24 state of Michigan is reportedly ending
7:26 distribution of free bottled water to
7:28 residents of Flint the state's
7:31 justification multiple studies showing
7:33 lead levels below the federal limit for
7:36 more than two years although using
7:39 filters is still recommended the science
7:42 seems to say Flint water is safe many
7:45 residents don't believe it if you ask
7:47 anybody in the city of flint right now
7:49 today and they tell you they trust the
7:50 water they're either a paid or
7:53 delusional from it Corinne and all this
7:56 Toni Palladino has no doubt why his
7:59 family's hair is still falling out the
8:01 bacteria's the other chemicals enter in
8:04 it the Flint water crisis loss of trust
8:07 is its legacy never mind that it was
8:08 corroding our insides
8:11 never mind it was poisonous never mind
8:12 it was killing us
8:14 Bishop Byrne Adele Jefferson is one of
8:17 three residents we talked to the ones
8:19 that we trusted to see have a voice for
8:23 us they like back in 2015 I had lost
8:26 twins but I was also pregnant again in
8:29 2017 with twins again and I've lost them again
8:29 again
8:32 Nikki awakes blames the water for her
8:35 miscarriages she plans to join multiple
8:38 class-action lawsuits I will never trust
8:39 the water again here in Flint
8:42 according to Virginia Tech water expert
8:45 Marc Edwards Flint isn't the only place
8:48 where the tap water is suspect you can't
8:50 trust the lead pipe it's a ticking time
8:52 bomb you think you've got it under
8:54 control you forget about it and suddenly
8:56 the lead will start to fall off when it
8:58 wasn't before it lead pipes are still
9:02 common across the United States so is
9:04 lead solder and plumbing so that's
9:06 important message for the roughly 10
9:08 million Americans who have those pipes
9:10 in from their house I just wish we knew
9:12 where all these lead pipes were because
9:15 we don't how do I know that my house is
9:21 free of dangerous piping the only 100%
9:23 way to be sure is to dig a hole in your
9:25 yard and to see what's there ultimately
9:28 that's what we had to do it with land as
9:30 for dr. Mona she has written a book
9:34 about the invisible danger of lead in
9:37 Flint's water is the water crisis a
9:39 crime scene it is it absolutely is a
9:42 crime scene and there are victims there
9:44 are absolute victims and there are villains
9:44 villains
9:47 sometimes it takes a disaster for cities
9:49 to to be reborn she's become a
9:52 cheerleader for the good that's come out
9:55 of the water crisis better education
9:59 better health care but even she remains
10:03 wary do you yourself trust the water
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