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