The Doctor Who Discovered Lead in Flint ’s Water on What Went Wrong and How to Fix It

What led you to suspect that there was lead in the water of Flint, Mich.? I was clued in by a high school girlfriend–a drinking-water expert–over a glass of wine at a barbecue at my house. She told me that the water [which was being piped from the local river to save money] wasn’t being treated properly. And once you proved that to be true, the city swung into action? No. I was attacked, the science was attacked and my credibility was attacked. Everybody talking about this was attacked: moms, activists, pastors, journalists. In your new book, What the Eyes Don’t See, you say the crisis in Flint was caused by both government policy and a lack of faith in government. How can it be both? It was policy that poisoned the city. It was the policy of austerity and emergency management, which usurped democracy. And it was also a belief that the government wasn’t there to solve your problems. In Michigan, they were trying to run government like a business. Why open the book with a story of a terrible childhood car accident? Afterward, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk. But a doctor came to me and held my hand and said, “You were in a terrible accident, but you’re going to be fine.” Thirty years later, it’s me in that white coat looking over children and telling them that they were in an accident. Now it’s my job to make sure that they’re going to be fine. You call Flint “the most important and emblemati...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized 10 Questions Flint Michigan Water Source Type: news