January 12, 2018
By Ron Fonger

Flint, MI -- There's a downside to removing every lead service line in Flint -- finding other homes with an elevated risk of high lead for future water testing.

Mayor Karen Weaver told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week that after all lead service lines have been pulled in Flint -- something that's expected to happen by the end of 2019 -- the city will use homes with lead solder in plumbing for Lead and Copper Rule testing that's required every six months.

"The city recognizes that it has an obligation to submit a monitoring plan for Lead and Copper Rule compliance. However .... LRC compliance monitoring is a dynamic situation," Weaver said in a January 8 letter to new EPA Region 5 Administrator Cathy Stepp.

"Beginning in 2020, permanent (test) sites will be established primarily focused on sites where lead solder has been used," the letter says....

These are all regulations that have to be met. I would fight the mitigation. There are people dead and permanently damaged due to lead poisoning by the Governor through his Emergency Manager. There is no way one case is the same as the next.

January 11, 2018
By Trace Samilton

In Flint Michigan, hundreds of people have filed lawsuits over that city's lead water crisis. Most of the lawsuits have been consolidated into one massive case. On Thursday, a federal district judge in Ann Arbor ordered all the parties into mediation.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Hundreds of people in Flint, Mich. have filed lawsuits over that city's lead water crisis. They're seeking damages that range from property value losses to brain damage in children. Most of the lawsuits have been consolidated into one massive case. And today, a federal district judge in Ann Arbor ordered all of the parties into mediation. Michigan Radio's Tracy Samilton reports that move could mean that victims get money much faster.

TRACY SAMILTON, BYLINE: 72-year-old Elnora Carthan noticed a change in the water in her shower right after Flint switched its water source from Detroit's system to the local Flint River in April 2014.

ELNORA CARTHAN: It had this smell to it. And after you'd dry it off, you began to itch.

SAMILTON: She developed skin lesions and other problems. When the state finally admitted the switch caused lead to leach into the drinking water, she had hers tested. One bottle came back at more than 32 times the federal standard. Carthan's blood lead level was also elevated. She became a lead plaintiff in the consolidated case against everyone from the Michigan governor and city officials to the engineering firms involved in the water switch. Carthan worries about her grandchildren, who drank the water when they visited....

And then there is this. I don't believe the reporting of test failures. I want an investigation. Why was the test changed in 2014?

January 10, 2018

There's a chance that tests given to millions of kids since 2014 (click here) to detect lead poisoning didn't work properly, delivering falsely low results to an unknown number of American families.

As many as 7 million tests performed on children over the course of the three years could have been wrong, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The manufacturer of the tests in question, however, is confident the number is millions lower..

Parents may not realize that routine visits to the pediatrician should include a blood test to screen their child for lead. Among the barrage of questions about a baby's development, physical exams, updates on shots and other tests, it can get glossed over – particularly if the test comes back negative.

Although lead has been banned from products such as gasoline and paint for decades, it's possible for any child to become lead poisoned so the CDC recommends testing early in life. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled the faulty tests in May, and eight months later, it's still uncertain what went wrong. Health professionals and families are still dealing with the fallout, which some worry hurt trust in the screenings and could result in fewer parents testing their children....