Friday, April 30, 2021

Guinea pigs for a radically modified radiaition scan. This scan was never approved by the FDA.

April 28, 2021
By Paul Egan

Stebbins, 22, of Mount Morris, is visibly pregnant and said she had not thought about any potential risk until later when her mother raised the issue.

Ms. Stebbins is not supposed to have to worry about being exposed or having her unborn child exposed to radiation. She is not a physician. Ms. Stebbins is supposed to be protected from GROSS MALPRACTICE.

First, Flint residents were exposed to toxic lead. (click here)

Now, there are concerns many could be exposed to harmful radiation through bone scans as they seek to document their exposure to lead and secure their shares of a $641.25 million settlement of civil lawsuits arising from the Flint water catastrophe.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the Flint pediatrician who helped expose the 2014 lead poisoning of the city's drinking water supply, is among those raising concerns about the use in Flint — through arrangements made by plaintiff attorneys — of a portable bone scanner that its manufacturer says is not designed for use on humans....

..."It is not an approved practice by any global regulatory agency or professional body," Reynolds said. Instead, "it is being promoted by misinformed attorneys" as part of an "unauthorized/unsupervised research project, masquerading as an accepted medical procedure, as a condition for compensation to claimants."...

This isn't misinformation. It is however gross legal malpractice.

National Research Council (US) Committee on Measuring Lead in Critical Populations.
Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1993.

The purpose of this chapter (click here) is to discuss analytic methods to assess exposure to lead in sensitive populations. The toxic effects of lead are primarily biochemical, but rapidly expanding chemical research databases indicate that lead has adverse effects on multiple organ systems especially in infants and children. The early evidence of exposure, expressed by the age of 6–12 months, shows up in prenatal or postnatal blood as lead concentrations that are common in the general population and that until recently were not considered detrimental to human health (Bellinger et al., 1987,1991a; Dietrich et al., 1987a; McMichael et al., 1988). As public-health concerns are expressed about low-dose exposures (Bellinger et al., 1991a,1987; Dietrich et al., 1987a; McMichael et al., 1988; Landrigan, 1989; Rosen et al., 1989; Mahaffey, 1992), the uses of currently applicable methods of quantitative assessment and development of newer methods will generate more precise dosimetric information on small exposures of numbers of sensitive populations....

Well, if Genesee County doesn't have the vaccine for the public, what good is a strategy?

23 April 2021
By Jiquanda Johnson

Nearly a dozen people sit in on a Zoom call (click here) on a Wednesday afternoon for what they call a “publications” meeting – one similar to many others held daily in Flint, Michigan, as community partners collaborate for the sake of public health.

In essence, it’s a meeting bringing organizations together to help strategize on how to get the word out about Covid-19 vaccinations.

Like the rest of Michigan, Flint is seeing steep increases in Covid-19 numbers.

“My city is on fire. Covid-19 is on fire,” said Debra Furr-Holden, director of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES) and associate dean for public health integration at Michigan State University, as she talks about new efforts to reduce Covid numbers....

...Now the coronavirus pandemic is wreaking renewed havoc in the city as a wave of new infections struck Michigan just as much of the rest of the country seemed to be recovering. Numbers of positive cases in Flint are steadily increasing and the pandemic has not made it easy to get information out to a community struggling with various communication gaps. It is a fresh crisis, but it is also one that multiple local activists and community leaders are seeking to combat....

Can't imagine why everyone is upset, can you? A year ago...

A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, was shot and killed after a confrontation with the family of a woman he had told to leave the store because she wasn’t wearing a face mask. (Three people, including the woman’s mother, were charged with first-degree murder.) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the state’s stay-at-home order would remain in place for two more weeks; her statement came on the same day that President Donald Trump tweeted that she should “make a deal” with protesters who gathered at the state Capitol a day earlier, some carrying assault weapons.

April 29, 2021
By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Robert Gordon, (click here) Michigan's former health director who abruptly resigned on Jan. 22, said he made the decision after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told him it was time to go in a "new direction."

Gordon revealed the comment at the beginning of a Thursday morning state House Oversight Committee hearing. The Republican-controlled panel subpoenaed Gordon last week to appear before the panel. GOP lawmakers voiced concerns that the $155,606 separation agreement Whitmer's administration reached with Gordon violated a constitutional provision barring "extra compensation" paid to any public officer after the person's "service has been rendered."...


April 30, 2021
By Sarah Rahal

The first case of the India variant of COVID-19 (click here) has been identified in Clinton County north of Lansing, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton told The Detroit News Friday.

The new variant, B.1.617, was initially detected in India in October with two mutations, E484Q and L452R, according to the World Health Organization....

April 30, 2021

Washington – The U.S. will restrict travel from India (click here) starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

Why is it that Genesee County does not have adequate vaccines for COVID-19? Flint is in Genesee County. I am fairly certain other areas of Michigan have sufficient vaccines.

April 26, 2021
By Dan Bondy

Flint - According to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, (click here)  the number of children in Michigan being hospitalized with COVID-19 is growing.

The Association reports hospitalization rates for children to increase three hundred and eleven percent between February nineteenth and April twentieth....

...The report also says the number of children hospitalized with severe covid-19 symptoms hit a high of 70 across the state last week.

The report says, on average there are 1,500 pediatric covid cases diagnosed each day.

April 29, 2021
By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (click here) announced a plan Thursday to tie the future of COVID-19 restrictions in Michigan to the percentage of residents who get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

The Democratic governor described the "MI Vacc to Normal" plan as the state's way out of the pandemic, which has been tied to more than 17,400 deaths in Michigan and spurred limitations on gatherings and businesses for more than a year.

Under the new four-phase plan, the Whitmer administration will begin easing restrictions two weeks after 4.5 million residents, or 55% of the adult population, receive their first dose. She said her administration will lift a requirement for remote work when it's feasible....

So, let me get this right. Whitmer has a plan to lift restrictions on movement within Michigan after 55 percent of adults are vaccinated. Which 55 percent is that because Genesee County will have restrictions lifted without much of a hope of 55 percent of their citizens being vaccinated. Where did the 55 percent come from anyway?

I WOULD THINK the 55 percent of vaccinations is in the cities, right? That is where transmission is most likely to happen. Cities where there are many more people per square mile than rural areas. Where is the 55 percent coming from? Will it actually end the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Michigan? Heck, no!

Immunizations (click here)

Due to the current recommendations of social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Immunization Department is appointment only, no walk-ins are available at this time.

Please call (810) 237-4569 or 810-237-4540 for an appointment, you will be asked a few questions on recent travel and current health status.






A bipartisan US Senate recognizes the poor condition of the country's water supply.

30 April 2021
By Cornell University

Jerel Ezell (click here) is a mixed methods researcher‚ currently enrolled in the sociology doctoral program at the University of Chicago. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (M.P.H., 2010), where he had his first experience in the housing sector working at New Destiny Housing Corporation, a nonprofit which develops supportive, sustainable housing for low-income survivors of domestic violence...

...The Senate has approved a bipartisan, (click here) $35 billion bill to upgrade the country’s water infrastructure, a measure that would clean up the nation’s water supply.

Jerel Ezell is professor of Africana studies and an expert in health disparities and social inequality in post-industrial communities. Ezell has worked on city infrastructure challenges in Flint, Michigan and his new research shows that five years after the beginning of the Flint water crisis, 29% of residents had associated PTSD symptoms, with higher rates observed among Black residents.

Ezell says:

“This rare moment of bipartisanship is welcome, and this bill takes a small, but important, step in acknowledging the importance of clean water as a basic human right. However, while this legislation will do a good deal to address some of the long-standing technical issues plaguing our national water supply, infrastructure upgrades alone will not motivate communities who are used to limited water potability to use it.

“This bill must be reinforced by earnest public engagement and education campaigns on water consumption, particularly in low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities like those in Flint, Michigan which have routinely been subjected to poor tasting water that has been unsafe to drink or bathe in and at times disastrous for their health.”...