Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Source Of Flint's Next Lead Problem: The Soil
The Detroit Free Press: Lead Levels In Flint, Mich., Kids' Blood Could Rise In Summer Because Of Soil
The level of lead in the blood of children in Flint probably will rise over the next few months, not because of continued problems with the city's drinking water supply, but because of high levels of lead in the soil — especially in the city's oldest and densest areas — that gets inhaled into their bodies during the summer, according to a Michigan State University researcher. Richard Sadler, an assistant professor in the university's department of family medicine, said the yearly seasonal cyclical pattern — which is not unique to Flint, but is common to most big cities — is expected to recur, even as state officials expect the lead levels in Flint's drinking water to diminish. Sadler is coauthor of a study published this week in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health related to lead poisoning in Flint. (Egan, 3/31)
The Detroit Free Press: How Race, Class Set The Stage For Flint Water Crisis
Darryl Wilson is tired of fighting and scraping just to get what most Americans take for granted: clean, safe drinking water. He wants to leave Flint for awhile so someone can replace the pipes and fixtures in his house and the city's lead and lead-soldered service lines that are leaching the toxin into the water. But he doesn't have the money. He can't drive. He's stuck just like thousands of other people in a poor, majority African-American city where people cried out for more than a year about odd-smelling, discolored water, rashes, stomach aches and hair loss. They say, and experts agree, they are victims of racial, economic and environmental injustice. (Shamus, 3/31)
Elsewhere, it's not just Flint that's dealing with water issues, and it's not just lead that's causing them —
Bloomberg: Des Moines Fights To Keep Its Water Clean
In the early spring of 2014, two lab workers for the Des Moines Water Works climbed into a truck and drove north. They pulled over on Highway 20 where the road crosses Cedar Creek, made their way to the water’s edge, dunked a cup attached to a pole, then poured the contents into a container. It was the first of 40 outings over the next nine months to collect samples from creeks, ditches, and drainage outlets—72 locations in all—amid the corn and soybean fields north of Des Moines. (Martin, 3/31)
NPR: Elevated Levels Of Suspected Carcinogen Found In States' Drinking Water
Water safety concerns aren't just in Flint, Mich., these days. Communities in three states in the Northeast have found elevated levels of a suspected carcinogen — perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. Used to make Teflon, the chemical has contaminated water supplies in New York, New Hampshire and Vermont. (Wang, 3/31)
And Portland, Oregon is scrambling after discovering heavy metal hot spots —
The Associated Press: Green-Minded Portland Rocked By Heavy Metal Pollution
Fiercely proud of its reputation as one of the most environmentally minded cities in America, Portland is reeling from the discovery of poisonous heavy metal "hot spots" in the air and ground. Amid the crisis, two top state air regulators have resigned, residents are rushing to the doctor to get tested, and politicians in this city of 600,000 are scrambling to do damage control. Federal officials have also launched a nationwide review of small art glass-making factories, the suspected source of Portland's contamination. (3/31)
