"Melissa Mays looks around the emergency room at a frail, elderly man in a wheelchair and a woman with a hacking cough and can't quite believe she's here. Until a few months ago, she was healthy -- an active mother of three boys who found time to go to the gym while holding down a job as a media consultant and doing publicity for bands.
"But lately, she's been feeling sluggish. She's developed a rash on her leg, and clumps of her hair are falling out. She ended up in the emergency room last week after feeling 'like [her] brain exploded,' hearing pops, and experiencing severe pain in one side of her head.
"Mays blames her sudden spate of health problems on the water in her hometown of Flint. She says it has a blue tint when it comes out of her faucet, and lab results indicate it has high amounts of copper and lead. Her family hasn't been drinking the water for some months, but they have been bathing in it, since they have no alternative."
The State of Michigan, under the direction of Governor Rick Snyder, tried to keep the story under wraps, and deny there was a problem, apparently even after they knew there was a serious problem. As late as September the state was still denying there was a problem with the water from the Flint river, and taking issue with the studies saying otherwise. Michigan Live wrote, "State says data shows no link to Flint River, elevated lead in blood":
"Angela Minicuci, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, said blood lead levels in Flint have remained fairly steady for children under 16 years old since the city switched from Lake Huron water to the river."
However, while denying there was a problem, the governor's office was secretly ordering filters be supplied to Flint.
Professor Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech University says the reason the state was still denying the link could be that they altered data from samples. CNN reports in "Did Michigan officials hide the truth about lead in Flint?"
"Documents and emails show discrepancies between two reports detailing the toxicity of lead samples collected by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Flint between January and June 2015, Professor Marc Edwards from Virginia Tech University said.
"According to Edwards, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the city of Flint collected 71 lead level samples from homes when they were required to collect 100. The final report from the Department of Environmental Quality however, only accounted for 69 of those 71 samples.
"Edwards said those two discarded samples were 'high-lead' and would have lifted the 'action level' above 15 parts per billion."
But wait, there's more...
"Edwards said the samples should have been taken from homes with lead pipes. The reports say they were, but Michael Glasgow, then-assistant supervisor of the Flint water plant, said this is not true. Glasgow told CNN the records were not complete, and the sampling teams did not know which homes had lead pipes.
"'In essence, the state took an 'F-grade' for Flint water's report on lead and made it into an 'A-grade,' Edwards told CNN."
But wait, there's more...
"The memo notes that residents were instructed to 'pre-flush' taps before samples were taken, a practice that has been shown 'to result in the minimization of lead capture and significant underestimation of lead levels.'"
Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality notified the city on June 25, 2015 that they had found high lead levels in some of the samples. It was after that notification that the samples changed, and showed no more lead.
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