The doctor who helped expose the Flint water crisis says these days she is “prescribing hope” to Flint’s children. Dr Mona Hanna-Attisha visited the campus of Central Michigan University this week to talk about her work and her book, What the Eyes Don’t See.
She sat down with Ben Thorp about the impact the crisis is still having on the city, and her hope for the future of Flint’s children…
Ben: We’re about six years out from when the crisis began. I’m wondering if you can talk about some of the long term health impacts we’re starting to see in children.
Dr. Mona: As a pediatrician in Flint I have the absolute privilege of caring for our Flint kids. They are brave, strong, smart and resilient. They have really tried to not only recover but thrive from this crisis. But I think the question that you asked me is one of the most common questions I get asked - how are kids doing? Everybody wants to know. We’re trying to answer that question in a very objective way. That’s why we’ve created the Flint registry. It’s a massive CDC funded project to identify folks who were exposed to this crisis but most importantly to get them connected to resources so we don’t see those consequences. But what it tells us is there are long term ongoing needs and this work we are doing to mitigate this crisis needs to be long term.
Ben: Talk to me about lost trust. The state has said we’re meeting these federal regulations in terms of lead in the water but folks in Flint still say I don’t trust the water that is coming out of my tap. What does it take to reclaim that trust?
Dr. Mona: You can tell people that the lead levels have come down in the water, that it’s safe to drink, that it meets federal guidelines and there are folks in Flint who will never drink water from a tap again. That’s not to be dismissed or criticized that’s to be understood. That’s a reflection of being betrayed by every governmental agency that was supposed to protect you. People were told in Flint that everything is fine, everything is in compliance, everything is safe when it wasn’t. When those folks knew that it wasn’t safe. That trust is going to take a long time to come back, it’s going to take a long term investment in the resources needed to mitigate the impacts, but it’s also going to take accountability.
Accountability in Flint is nowhere near complete. The criminal charges have been dismissed those are being restarted, for the people of Flint that feels like justice denied. And the civil cases haven’t reached settlement yet. I think when there is an element of accountability there will be a sense of restorative justice and that will absolutely help with healing and recovery and the rebuilding of trust. I never used to answer these questions about lawsuits, accountability, and prosecutions. But as a doctor it impacts healing. It thwarts healing. It makes it really hard for people to move on.
Ben: I want to circle back a little bit because the EPA is in the midst of reviewing its lead and copper rule, I think taking it down to 15 parts per billion…
Dr. Mona: They are keeping it at 15 parts per billion. The EPA under the safe drinking water act has a lead and copper rule that was one of the cruxes of this problem, it’s a very weak rule. The rule never intended us to have lead free water, it has an action level of 15 parts per billion which is not at all health based. Science has not caught up with the policy. The EPA has proposed revisions to this rule which does not lower the action level nor does it mandate the replacement of lead pipes in the nation.
Michigan has learned its lesson. Michigan has adopted a model lead and copper rule. We are now as a state mandating the replacement of all our pipes within the next 20 years and Michigan is doing better sampling to detect lead in water and lowering that action level eventually. It can be done, it even has an economic benefit when you do this work, but the federal government needs to catch up.
Ben: In your answer to my first question I feel like you were trying to subvert this narrative around negativity around Flint and Flint kids and saying oh my god it’s so terrible. Can you talk about what are the hopeful things?
Dr. Mona: There’s a whole chapter in my book called prescriptions for hope. We as a community have rolled up our sleeves since this crisis happened to make sure our kids not only recover but thrive. Our kids have heard the same things that have been on the national media. They’ve heard lead, brain damage, neurotoxicity, and irreversible neurotoxin so we’ve been putting everything in place to make sure our kids don’t see those consequences. So we have been prescribing hope and we don’t use that word lightly, it has been realized with all of the amazing interventions we put into place.
Ben: Thank you so much.
Dr. Mona: You bet.
You can listen to the full, unedited interview here: