What effects could lead have on my baby? (click here)
High levels of lead during pregnancy can cause miscarriage and stillbirth. Other pregnancy problems, such as
low birth weight/poor growth, premature delivery, and preeclampsia (pregnancy complications, such as high blood
pressure, that usually happens after week 20) can also occur.
The most serious effects of high maternal lead levels on babies are learning and behavior problems. Even with
small amounts of lead exposure, there may be mild learning disabilities. A higher chance of physical birth defects has
not been reported....
Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) (click here)
This is reported in Wikipedia with the reference to Grant.
Lead affects both the male and female reproductive systems. In men, when blood lead levels exceed 40 μg/dL, sperm count is reduced and changes occur in volume of sperm, their motility, and their morphology.
Grant, L.D. (2009). "Lead and compounds". In Lippmann, M. (ed.). Environmental Toxicants: Human Exposures and Their Health Effects (3rd ed.). Wiley-Interscience. ISBN 978-0-471-79335-9.
It takes 23 sets of chromosomes for the growth of a human fetus. One set from the father the other from the mother. The fetus is brought to a viable birth because of the health of both parents chromosomes.
The point here is that the Hurley study does not portray the majority of studies in peer-reviewed journals. This may be the first article of it's kind, but, it does not carry brevity in comparison to other widely validated studies. The Hurley study is in question compared to all others stating otherwise.
There is no way the women and men that were effected by the high lead content water had the same blood levels before the water was switched to Flint River water as drinking water. That is not a valid finding. In order to validate those lead levels in women from Flint other populations receiving the pre-Flint River water would have to be tested. I believe the people of Flint were receiving water from Detroit before the Flint River water. Women receiving that same Detroit water would have to be tested to validate the Flint women pre-Flint water. There is no way that finding is valid.
August 14, 2019
By Ron Fonger
Flint - A study set to be published next month (click here) in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that Flint water did not increase blood lead levels among women of childbearing age, making it “extremely unlikely” they experienced an increase in stillborn deliveries as a result of the city’s water crisis.
The peer-reviewed paper authored by Dr. Hernan F. Gomez of Hurley Medical Center and others, compared the blood lead levels from a small sample of Flint women ages 12-50 before, during and after residents were exposed to improperly treated water drawn from the Flint River in parts of 2014 and 2015....
...Professors David Slusky and Daniel Grossman released a working paper in 2017 that compared Flint birth and death certificates with those issued in other Michigan cities in a several-year time period before Flint changed water sources and after its use of the river.
That study concluded Flint River water caused lower fertility rates and higher infant death rates.
According to Slusky and Grossman’s analysis, after Flint switched its water source from Detroit to Flint River water in 2014, the city’s fertility rates decreased by 12 percent among Flint women, while fetal death rates rose by 58 percent.
