The entire City of Flint was traumatized. There was a considerable number of miscarriages of fetuses during the water crisis.
By Cornell University
Ithaca, NY - Since state austerity policies initiated a potable water crisis seven years ago in Flint, Michigan, public health monitoring has focused on potential developmental deficits associated with lead exposure in adolescents or fetuses exposed in utero.
New research from Cornell and the University of Michigan offers the first comprehensive evidence that the city’s adult residents suffered a range of adverse physical and mental health symptoms potentially linked to the crisis in the years during and following it, with Black residents affected disproportionately.
In a survey of more than 300 residents, 10% reported having been diagnosed by a clinician with elevated blood lead levels – well above national averages – after a state-appointed city manager, as part of a cost-saving measure, switched the city’s water source to one that became contaminated with lead and harmful bacteria on April 25, 2014.
Nearly half the survey respondents reported experiencing skin rashes and more than 40% experienced hair loss, among physical symptoms associated with elevated levels of bacteria and heavy metals in water. More than a quarter of respondents reported symptoms of depression or anxiety, and nearly a third had PTSD symptoms specifically related to the water crisis.
“If you don’t trust your water and you actively avoid it over persistent concerns on its safety, that’s a stark form of psychological trauma in and of itself,” said Jerel Ezell, assistant professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center in the College of Arts and Sciences....
