What the Eyes Don't See
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He insisted that lead was naturally occurring: Herbert L. Needleman, “The Removal of Lead from Gasoline: Historical and Personal Reflections,” Environmental Research 84, no. 1 (2000): 20–35.
The lead industry used its towering advantage: Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner, “ ‘Cater to the Children’: The Role of the Lead Industry in a Public Health Tragedy, 1900–1955,” American Journal of Public Health 90, no. 1 (2000): 36–46.
12.4 percent of the global burden: World Health Organization, “Lead Poisoning and Health: Fact Sheet,” updated August 2017, www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/. See also Bruce Lanphear et al., “Low-level Lead Exposure and Mortality in U.S. Adults: A Population-Based Cohort Study,” Lancet Public Health (2018): doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(18)30025-2.
three Arab countries—Algeria, Yemen, and Iraq: Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles, “Meeting Report: 11th PCFV Global Partnership Meeting, 6–7 June 2016, London,” staging.unep.org/Transport/new/PCFV/pdf/11GPM_WorkshopReport.pdf; United Environment Programme, Leaded Petrol Phase-out: Global Status as at March 2017 (Nairobi: UNEP, 2017), wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/17542/MapWorldLead_March2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.
we know lead’s potential: David Bellinger, “Very Low Lead Exposures and Children’s Neurodevelopment,” Current Opinion in Pediatrics 20 no. 2 (2008): 172–77, doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0b013e3282f4f97b.
Econometrics studies: Several studies have correlated lead exposure with crime: Rick Nevin, “How Lead Exposure Relates to Temporal Changes in IQ, Violent Crime, and Unwed Pregnancy,” Environmental Research 83, no. 1 (2000): 1–22. Analyses indicate a significant relationship between childhood lead exposure and violent crime in adulthood. See Jessica Wolpaw Reyes, “Environmental Policy as Social Policy? The Impact of Childhood Lead Exposure on Crime,” B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy (2007): article 51; and John Paul Wright et al., “Association of Prenatal and Childhood Blood Lead Concentrations with Criminal Arrests in Early Adulthood,” PLOS Medicine 5, no. 5 (2008): e101. Studying preschool blood-lead levels and national crime rate trends, Nevin found a strong association between the two in nine countries. See Rick Nevin, “Understanding International Crime Trends: The Legacy of Preschool Lead Exposure,” Environmental Research 104, no. 3 (2007): 315–36.
But here’s something beautiful: American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health, “Prevention of Childhood Lead Toxicity,” Pediatrics 138, no. 1 (2016): e20161493, doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1493.
I learned that in the last 150 years: Werner Troesken, The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006).
a lead-based abortion pill: Alison Moulds, “The Other Side to the Story: Abortion and Family Planning,” Victorian Clinic, June 29, 2013, victorianclinic.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/the-other-side-to-the-story-abortion-and-family-planning/.
CHAPTER 13: THE MAN IN THE PANDA TIE
Lansing had elevated lead levels in its water: Ed Glaser, “Weighing Last Summer’s Lansing Lead Scare,” City Pulse, January 5, 2005, lansingcitypulse.com/archives/050105/features/index2.asp.
CHAPTER 15: POISONED BY POLICY
Citizens went to the UN: Curt Guyette, “In Flint, Michigan, Overpriced Water Is Causing People’s Skin to Erupt in Rashes and Hair to Fall Out,” Nation, July 6, 2015, www.thenation.com/article/in-flint-michigan-overpriced-water-is-causing-peoples-skin-to-erupt-and-hair-to-fall-out/.
CHAPTER 16: SHORTWAVE RADIO CRACKLING
But now, because of my dad’s discovery: Weam Namou, “It Takes Two Villages,” Chaldean News, January 2012, p. 40, issuu.com/chaldeannews/docs/20120104155420819/9.
Israel Raba and his family were famous scribes: David Wilmshurst, Ecclesiastical Organization of the Church of the East, 1318–1913 (n.p.: Corpus Scriptorum Christanorum Orientalium, 2000). The history of the Assyrians and of the interactions between the Church of the East and the Chaldean church is fraught and frightfully complex. My few sentences do not do them justice. The centuries of plagues, massacres, and invasions only underscore my respect for the religious and cultural resilience of all the great people of the region.
invaluable artifacts and religious books: Muna Fadhil, “Isis Destroys Thousands of Books and Manuscripts in Mosul Libraries,” Guardian, February 26, 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/26/isis-destroys-thousands-books-libraries.
in the ferment of the Great Depression: Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq: A Study of Iraq’s Old Landed and Commercial Classes and of its Communists, Ba’thists, and Free Officers (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983).
joining 35,000 other freedom-loving idealists: Hugh Thomas, The Spanish Civil War (New York: Modern Library, 2001); and Salvador Bofarull, “Brigadistas árabes en la Guerra de España: Combatientes por la República,” Nacion Arabe 52 (2004): 121–34.
General Motors and other U.S. auto companies: Adam Hochschild, Spain in our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939 (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016).
the United States actively supported Saddam: Joyce Battle, ed., “Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts Toward Iraq, 1980–1984,” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82 (Washington, D.C.: National Security Archive, 2003), nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/index.htm; Alan Friedman, Spider’s Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq, (New York: Bantam, 1993).
CHAPTER 17: MEETING THE MAYOR
“Because no measurable level”: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, Low Level Lead Exposure Harms Children: A Renewed Call for Primary Prevention (Atlanta: CDC, January 4, 2012), www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/acclpp/final_document_030712.pdf.
“For childhood lead poisoning”: L. Trasande and Y. Liu, “Reducing the Staggering Costs of Environmental Disease in Children, Estimated at $76.6 Billion in 2008,” Health Affairs 30, no. 5 (2011): 863–70, doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2010.1239.
it showed economic losses attributable: Michigan Network for Children’s Environmental Health, and the Ecology Center, “The Price of Pollution: Cost Estimates of Environment-Related Childhood Disease in Michigan,” June 2010, www.sehn.org/tccpdf/childnood%20illness.pdf.
For about 25% of infants: Simoni Triantafyllidou, Daniel Gallagher, and Marc Edwards, “Assessing Risk with Increasingly Stringent Public Health Goals: The Case of Water Lead and Blood Lead in Children,” Journal of Water and Health 12, no. 1 (2014): 57–68.
Increase in fetal death: Marc Edwards, “Fetal Death and Reduced Birth Rates Associated with Exposure to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water,” Environmental Science and Technology 48, no. 1 (2014): 739–46.
CHAPTER 19: THE PRESS CONFERENCE
Ron Fonger wrote a story: Ron Fonger, “Doctors to Speak Out Today on Lead in Flint Water,” MLive, September 24, 2015, www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/09/doctors_health_officials_to_sp.html.
“It transforms fidelity into infidelity”: Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844: The Power of Money, www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/power.htm.
CHAPTER 20: SPLICE AND DICE
The blowback began immediately: Ron Fonger, “State Says Data Shows No Link to Flint River, Elevated Lead in Blood,” Flint Journal, September 24, 2015, www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2015/09/state_says_its_data_shows_no_c.html. The article opens: “The state is wasting no time in taking issue with a study linking use of the Flint River as a drinking water source to elevated blood lead levels in children.”
“fanning political flames irresponsibly”: Marc Edwards and Siddhartha Roy, “Commentary: MDEQ Mistakes and Deception Created the Flint Water Crisis,” September 30, 2015, flintwaterstu
dy.org/2015/09/commentary-mdeq-mistakes-deception-flint-water-crisis/; September 8, 2015, email from Brad Wurfel to Ron Fonger, senatedems.com/snyder_emails/20150901_September%201%20-%2024%2C%202015.pdf.
“I would call them unfortunate”: Associated Press, “Did This Michigan Town Poison Its Children?: Children in Flint, Michigan Are Showing High Levels of Blood Lead,” U.S. News & World Report, September 25, 2015, www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/09/25/flint-michigan-children-show-high-levels-of-lead-in-blood.
“seasonal anomaly”: Editorial Board, “Lead-Poisoned Flint Kids Will Pay Price for Water Switch,” Detroit Free Press, September 24, 2015, www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/09/24/lead-poisoned-flint-kids-pay-price-water-switch/72741222/; Robin Erb, “Doctor: Lead Seen in More Flint Kids Since Water Switch,” Detroit Free Press, September 24, 2015, www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/09/24/water-lead-in-flint/72747696/.
“spliced and diced”: Nancy Kaffer, “Snyder Must Act on Flint Lead Crisis,” Detroit Free Press, September 27, 2015, www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2015/09/26/shortfalls-em-law-writ-large-flint-water-crisis/72811990/; email from Sara Wurfel to Nancy Kaffer, September 24, 2015, saying data is “spliced and diced,” senatedems.com/snyder_emails/20150901_September%201%20-%2024%2C%202015.pdf, pp. 828–29.
CHAPTER 21: NUMBERS WAR
“Data that the state of Michigan”: Kristi Tanner and Nancy Kaffer, “State Data Confirms Higher Blood-Lead Levels in Flint Kids,” Detroit Free Press, September 29, 2015, www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2015/09/26/state-data-flint-lead/72820798/.
“It’s hard to understand the resounding yawn”: Nancy Kaffer, “Snyder Must Act on Flint Lead Crisis,” Detroit Free Press, September 27, 2015, www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2015/09/26/shortfalls-em-law-writ-large-flint-water-crisis/72811990/.
an “ecobiodevelopmental” approach: Jack P. Shonkoff et al., “The Lifelong Effects of Early Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress,” Pediatrics 129, no. 1 (2011): e232–e246, doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2663.
our friends in the north: “Flint, Michigan, Declares Emergency; High Lead Levels in Kids Linked to Tap Water,” As It Happens with Carol Off and Jeff Douglas, Canadian Broadcasting Company, October 2, 2015, www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.3254263/flint-michigan-declares-emergency-after-doctor-links-children-to-lead-tainted-tap-water-1.3254267.
All Things Considered: Sarah Hulett, “High Lead Levels in Michigan Kids After City Switches Water Source,” All Things Considered, NPR, September 29, 2015, www.npr.org/2015/09/29/444497051/high-lead-levels-in-michigan-kids-after-city-switches-water-source.
CHAPTER 22: DEMONSTRATION OF PROOF
I shared recent research from Montreal: Gerard Ngueta et al., “Use of a Cumulative Exposure Index to Estimate the Impact of Tap Water Lead Concentration on Blood Lead Levels in 1- to 5-Year-Old Children (Montréal, Canada),” Environmental Health Perspectives 124, no. 3 (2016): 388–95, doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409144.
“We understand many have lost confidence”: Robin Erb, “Flint Doctor Makes State See Light about Lead in Water,” Detroit Free Press, October 12, 2015, www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/10/10/hanna-attisha-profile/73600120/.
ten-point “comprehensive action” plan: Office of Governor Rick Snyder, “Comprehensive Action Plan Will Help Flint Residents Address Water Concerns” [press release], October 2, 2015, www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,4668,7-277-57577_57657-366315--,00.html.
CHAPTER 23: ALL THE THINGS WE FOUND OUT LATER
arranging for water coolers to be delivered: Paul Egan, “Amid Denials, State Workers in Flint Got Clean Water,” Detroit Free Press, January 28, 2016, www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/01/28/amid-denials-state-workers-flint-got-clean-water/79470650/.
exploring the distribution of water filters: Jonathan Oosting and Chad Livengood, “Snyder Aides Considered Flint Water Filters in March,” Detroit News, February 12, 2016, www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/12/snyder-aides-considered-flint-water-filters-march/80270588/.
it would have cost only eighty dollars a day: Claire Bernish, “Flint Officials Could Have Prevented Lead Crisis for $80 a Day,” Mint Press News, February 5, 2016, www.mintpressnews.com/flint-officials-could-have-prevented-lead-crisis-for-80-a-day/213462/.
the MDHHS had an analysis done: Vanessa Schipani, “False Claims About Flint Water,” FactCheck, April 27, 2016, www.factcheck.org/2016/04/false-claims-about-flint-water/.
“Yes, the issue is moving”: Bridge magazine staff, Poison on Tap: How Government Failed Flint, and the Heroes Who Fought Back (Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2016), p. 110.
strange escalation in cases of Legionnaires’ disease: Scientific and media articles related to the Flint water crisis and Legionnaires’ disease and pneumonia rates: William J. Rhoads et al., “Distribution System Operational Deficiencies Coincide with Reported Legionnaires’ Disease Clusters in Flint, Michigan,” Environmental Science and Technology 51, no. 20 (2017): 11986–95; David Otto Schwake et al., “Legionella DNA Markers in Tap Water Coincident with a Spike in Legionnaires’ Disease in Flint, MI,” Environmental Science and Technology 3, no. 9 (2016): 311–15; Ron Fonger, “CDC Finds First Genetic Link Between Legionnaires’ Outbreak, Flint Water,” MLive, February 16, 2017, www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/02/cdc_finds_first_genetic_link_b.html; in regard to an increase in pneumonia deaths, Chastity Pratt Dawsey, “Soaring Pneumonia Deaths in Genesee County Likely Linked to Undiagnosed Legionnaires’, Experts Say,” Bridge magazine, January 26, 2017, www.bridgemi.com/children-families/soaring-pneumonia-deaths-genesee-county-likely-linked-undiagnosed-legionnaires.
“I’m not so sure Flint”: Stephanie Akin, “Was EPA Unwilling to ‘Go Out on a Limb’ for Flint? Committee Explores Federal, State Role in Water Crisis,” Roll Call, March 16, 2016, www.rollcall.com/news/policy/was-epa-unwilling-to-go-out-on-a-limb-for-flint.
“obscene failure of government”: Editorial Board, “Flint Water Crisis: An Obscene Failure of Government,” Detroit Free Press, October 8, 2015, www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/10/08/flint-water-crisis-obscene-failure-government/73578640/.
He even offered the assistance of the foundation: Jennifer Chambers, “Mott Foundation Hoping for ‘Dramatic Results’ in Flint,” Detroit News, October 8, 2015, www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/10/08/mott-foundation-grant-flint-water/73599612/.
It eventually issued a directive to prevent: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Flint Drinking Water Technical Support Team,” updated January 23, 2018, www.epa.gov/flint/flint-drinking-water-technical-support-team.
CHAPTER 24: FIRE ANT
accepted for publication: M. Hanna-Attisha et al., “Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated with the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response,” American Journal of Public Health 106, no. 2 (2016): 283–90, doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.303003.
The number forty-three was picked up again: Mitch Smith, “Flint Wants Safe Water, and Someone to Answer for Its Crisis,” New York Times, January 9, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/us/flint-wants-safe-water-and-someone-to-answer-for-its-crisis.html.
the Kettering University president: Dave Bartkowiak, Jr., “Kettering University President Aims to Clarify, Detail Scope of Flint Water Crisis: University President Points to Disparity Among Pipes,” Click on Detroit, January 21, 2016, www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/scope-of-flint-water-contamination-downplayed-calrified-in-kette
ring-university-presidents-letter.
she said I was “badass”: Rachel Maddow, “Michigan’s Snyder Pressed for Action on Flint,” MSNBC, January 14, 2016, www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2016-01-13.
“consider the whole cohort”: Kristi Tanner, “All Flint’s Children Must Be Treated as Exposed to Lead,” Detroit Free Press, January 16, 2016, www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/raw-data/2016/01/16/map-8657-flints-youngest-children-exposed-lead/78818888/.