From the Detroit Free Press:
January 16, 2016
By Kristi Tanner
In order to address the public health crisis in Flint, (click here) every Flint child under 6 years of age -- 8,657 children, based on an analysis of Census data -- should be considered exposed to lead.By Kristi Tanner
The direction came earlier this week from the doctor who forced the state to acknowledge Flint’s lead problem and the state itself.
The exposure began in April 2014 after the city switched from using Detroit’s water system, which pumps water out of Lake Huron, to its own treatment plant, which drew water from the Flint River.
In recommendations to the state on Monday, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha said all kids under the age of 6 should be treated with some kind of prevention actions....
Bouy, oh bouy, oh buoy. Have you ever just wanted to remain silent simply because of the pain you know it can cause. That is what I feel like right now. I don't want parents to be hurt any more than they already have. So, I've got to think a minute to put this in a way that is softer while still honest.
First of all these are beautiful and magnificent children. They live in Flint and the country already knows the moral content of Flint. Children grow up in Flint to be strong, educated and faithful to their own hopes and dreams.
When adults drink lead tainted water it is not a good thing. When understanding how lead effects each unique body is to know how it is utilized by the body. Lead is substituted for iron because the body cannot discern the difference. In adults there is a need for iron, an iron called heme iron is important to blood and the oxygen it carries.
People consume two types of iron: non-heme and heme (click here)
Non-heme iron comes primarily from plants and heme iron comes primarily from meat. Plants can contain tiny traces of heme iron but not enough to make a difference and as a rule, these plants are not types that we eat.
The body will utilize iron even if it is not heme-iron because it needs the iron. There will be an anemia with non-heme iron, but, not to the extent it would be otherwise. When lead is substituted in the body for iron it creates 'body function' problems like anemia, rashes and hair loss.
Adults are fairly well complete and don't really build body organs and nervous tissue. An adult is finished. An adult has all the organ tissue it will ever have. The exception of course is skin, hair and bone. Those are all organs as well. Skin is called the integumentary system, hair is primarily protein and a function of the integrumentary system and of course bone is the skeletal system.
The skeletal system is rather interesting. There are primarily two types of bone tissue and they are very vascular (lots of blood vessels). The skeletal system replaces itself about every six to eight weeks. The skeletal system actually has cells that tear down old skeletal cells and then replace it. That is why a broken bone heals in six to eight weeks.
Within the skeletal system, at the very center of a bone, are two other kinds of tissue called marrow. There is red and white marrow and they produce blood cells. Ready for this? Blood cells are destroyed in the liver and regenerated from the bone marrow. How often? Every six to eight weeks. Sorry, about that I made a mistake, adult blood cells are destroyed in the spleen. The liver accepts the destroyed blood cells for processing returning some of the cell to the body and the rest is excreted to the digestive tract for elimination.
But, that is getting too technical. What I want to have folks understand is that adults are effected by lead in the water but not the same way a child would be.
In adults it is the daily activities of cell biology that is effected that result in ill health. It is not the cells themselves effected. There may be some cells such as red bloods cells that have incorporated lead into their structure which causes a very bad anemia and lower concentration of oxygen in circulating blood. It is very serious, but, reversible. Adults can be made well again. Reasonably well.
In that reality of adults and their ability to reverse the poisons is why the thinking about lead always turns toward children.
Children have cell biology from the time of conception. As soon as that few days old inseminated ovum implants into the wall of the uterus there is cell production facilitated by the mother's nutrition. It is why the USA has programs like WIC to make sure mom's are getting all the nutrients they need. It is why expectant mothers are recommended to take special vitamins during their pregnancy.
In addition to cell biology, children grow their body tissues. In utero, they receive all their building blocks from mom. Lead can cross the placenta.
What I am saying is, the tissues of a child's body use iron to grow cells, some of which they will have all their lives. Children are highly impacted by lead, far more than adults.
There is a fatty layer of tissue called myelin that covers some of the nerve tissue the child has grown. That fatty layer acts like an insulator. It is the place where some victims of Multilple Sclerosis claim partial virus from vaccinations lie dormant until later in life and something triggers the myelin to begin to break down.
The myelin sheath is important, but, it does not CLOSE around the nerve tissue until the age of one. So every child exposed to lead under one year old is especially affected by lead. The myelin is not intact yet.
We all know from the marks on the wall how much growth we have experienced from year to year. Every birthday is another tick on the wall. Growth is cell formation including parts of bone with open growth plates can be effected. Like I said, the bone is very vascular. So, the longer the lead exposure the more a child will be effected. A one year old will be more effected than a fifteen year old.
Children need to be considered educationally challenged when exposed to these levels of lead. There is also a very good chance they will exhibit behaviors most adults would frown on. It has to be determined if medications are necessary or if behavior treatment is sufficient or if they will grow out of it and that is why DIET AND HEALTH is most important.
Now, don't think for one minute parents with children exposed to lead are alone in this world for the burden they carry over and above being a parent. The American society has made plenty of mistakes due to exposure to dietary issues.
Currently, there is an epidemic in children sensitive to gluten. Additionally, the number of autistic children in the USA has steadily been on the rise. There are also those parents who claim vaccinations caused issues with their children from an ingredient in the vaccine called thimerosal. A real connection between childern with disabilities and thimerosal has never been absolutely proven, but, parents claim it to be so and who am I to say they don't know their children the best.
This tragedy has happened to Flint. Evidently, it has happened to more than Flint. But, Flint is the spark that is going to cure this in the USA even if laws have to be written or changed to be sure this never happens again to any child OR their family.
Flint is on the map for many reasons, the least of which is being the heart of the first labor union. But, Flint is important also, today, because it now has some of the country's most precious potential to our brain trust. It is the challenge of this country to provide an excellent chance for these children to succeed and even to some of the most important institutions in government and the private sector as well. We have to make Flint a priority and be sure those children are in the scope of support as well as research.
It is up to the community of man, so to speak, in the USA to continue to remind the governments from local to federal this is the responsibility of the people and we need to succeed. That commitment and reminder needs to happen continually to keep these precious children under the radar and to know they are achieving the dreams they and their parents have for them. Those with conscience care and we will succeed.
Bouy, oh bouy, oh buoy. Have you ever just wanted to remain silent simply because of the pain you know it can cause. That is what I feel like right now. I don't want parents to be hurt any more than they already have. So, I've got to think a minute to put this in a way that is softer while still honest.
First of all these are beautiful and magnificent children. They live in Flint and the country already knows the moral content of Flint. Children grow up in Flint to be strong, educated and faithful to their own hopes and dreams.
When adults drink lead tainted water it is not a good thing. When understanding how lead effects each unique body is to know how it is utilized by the body. Lead is substituted for iron because the body cannot discern the difference. In adults there is a need for iron, an iron called heme iron is important to blood and the oxygen it carries.
People consume two types of iron: non-heme and heme (click here)
Non-heme iron comes primarily from plants and heme iron comes primarily from meat. Plants can contain tiny traces of heme iron but not enough to make a difference and as a rule, these plants are not types that we eat.
The body will utilize iron even if it is not heme-iron because it needs the iron. There will be an anemia with non-heme iron, but, not to the extent it would be otherwise. When lead is substituted in the body for iron it creates 'body function' problems like anemia, rashes and hair loss.
Adults are fairly well complete and don't really build body organs and nervous tissue. An adult is finished. An adult has all the organ tissue it will ever have. The exception of course is skin, hair and bone. Those are all organs as well. Skin is called the integumentary system, hair is primarily protein and a function of the integrumentary system and of course bone is the skeletal system.
The skeletal system is rather interesting. There are primarily two types of bone tissue and they are very vascular (lots of blood vessels). The skeletal system replaces itself about every six to eight weeks. The skeletal system actually has cells that tear down old skeletal cells and then replace it. That is why a broken bone heals in six to eight weeks.
Within the skeletal system, at the very center of a bone, are two other kinds of tissue called marrow. There is red and white marrow and they produce blood cells. Ready for this? Blood cells are destroyed in the liver and regenerated from the bone marrow. How often? Every six to eight weeks. Sorry, about that I made a mistake, adult blood cells are destroyed in the spleen. The liver accepts the destroyed blood cells for processing returning some of the cell to the body and the rest is excreted to the digestive tract for elimination.
But, that is getting too technical. What I want to have folks understand is that adults are effected by lead in the water but not the same way a child would be.
In adults it is the daily activities of cell biology that is effected that result in ill health. It is not the cells themselves effected. There may be some cells such as red bloods cells that have incorporated lead into their structure which causes a very bad anemia and lower concentration of oxygen in circulating blood. It is very serious, but, reversible. Adults can be made well again. Reasonably well.
In that reality of adults and their ability to reverse the poisons is why the thinking about lead always turns toward children.
Children have cell biology from the time of conception. As soon as that few days old inseminated ovum implants into the wall of the uterus there is cell production facilitated by the mother's nutrition. It is why the USA has programs like WIC to make sure mom's are getting all the nutrients they need. It is why expectant mothers are recommended to take special vitamins during their pregnancy.
In addition to cell biology, children grow their body tissues. In utero, they receive all their building blocks from mom. Lead can cross the placenta.
What I am saying is, the tissues of a child's body use iron to grow cells, some of which they will have all their lives. Children are highly impacted by lead, far more than adults.
There is a fatty layer of tissue called myelin that covers some of the nerve tissue the child has grown. That fatty layer acts like an insulator. It is the place where some victims of Multilple Sclerosis claim partial virus from vaccinations lie dormant until later in life and something triggers the myelin to begin to break down.
The myelin sheath is important, but, it does not CLOSE around the nerve tissue until the age of one. So every child exposed to lead under one year old is especially affected by lead. The myelin is not intact yet.
We all know from the marks on the wall how much growth we have experienced from year to year. Every birthday is another tick on the wall. Growth is cell formation including parts of bone with open growth plates can be effected. Like I said, the bone is very vascular. So, the longer the lead exposure the more a child will be effected. A one year old will be more effected than a fifteen year old.
Children need to be considered educationally challenged when exposed to these levels of lead. There is also a very good chance they will exhibit behaviors most adults would frown on. It has to be determined if medications are necessary or if behavior treatment is sufficient or if they will grow out of it and that is why DIET AND HEALTH is most important.
Now, don't think for one minute parents with children exposed to lead are alone in this world for the burden they carry over and above being a parent. The American society has made plenty of mistakes due to exposure to dietary issues.
Currently, there is an epidemic in children sensitive to gluten. Additionally, the number of autistic children in the USA has steadily been on the rise. There are also those parents who claim vaccinations caused issues with their children from an ingredient in the vaccine called thimerosal. A real connection between childern with disabilities and thimerosal has never been absolutely proven, but, parents claim it to be so and who am I to say they don't know their children the best.
This tragedy has happened to Flint. Evidently, it has happened to more than Flint. But, Flint is the spark that is going to cure this in the USA even if laws have to be written or changed to be sure this never happens again to any child OR their family.
Flint is on the map for many reasons, the least of which is being the heart of the first labor union. But, Flint is important also, today, because it now has some of the country's most precious potential to our brain trust. It is the challenge of this country to provide an excellent chance for these children to succeed and even to some of the most important institutions in government and the private sector as well. We have to make Flint a priority and be sure those children are in the scope of support as well as research.
It is up to the community of man, so to speak, in the USA to continue to remind the governments from local to federal this is the responsibility of the people and we need to succeed. That commitment and reminder needs to happen continually to keep these precious children under the radar and to know they are achieving the dreams they and their parents have for them. Those with conscience care and we will succeed.
