Greed In Cameroon

Leonard Pitts Jr. wrote an article about Flint, Michigan’s lead water out break. Complaining about hair loss (even in pets), nausea, and rashes. This happened in April and now in January it is becoming a big deal stated in the article. Flint switched their water supply to Flint River because it was cheaper. The river is filled with bacteria and chemicals. Leonard talks about doctors that are finding lead in little kids blood and that can lead to a lot of damages including brain damage, anti social behavior, and more. The city is very poor and this problem could have been taken care of if they just paid an extra 100$

What are some of the effects of the crisis? For any adult, lead poisoning can cause kidney problems, fatigue, lethargy, depression, and slower reaction time. However, adults require a higher level of lead in the blood to produce those effects. For pregnant women lead poisoning can can cause miscarriages and future health problems in a developing fetus. What about children? For children, lead poisoning affects the development of children's brains and nervous systems.

Many service lines leading into homes are leaching lead into the water. This problem happened because the city of Flint decided to not treat the water properly with corrosion control (Ganrin, 2016). This proves that officials did not care about those living in Flint. They chose to save money but instead they destroyed many lives. So this proves that our government is not there to help the people out, but instead to cut money wherever they feel necessary to not have to take it from other places. Lead poisoning can affect IQ and behavior. This can cause some people to become score low on standardized test and to become violent and to sometimes harm others. No level of lead is ever safe in any person or animal (Ganrin, 2016). The water source in Flint is currently undrinkable and very unsafe and will continue to be for months ahead ("Researcher: Flint water 'like Russian roulette'," 2016). Flint water is not a safe water source and has not been for many months. According to federal regulations Flint's water supply still does not meet standards. Since August 2015 the water supply has improved, but it still is not safe ("Researcher: Flint water 'like Russian roulette'," 2016). The people of Flint have been poisoned under their noses without even knowing it, secretly being sickened by their own government. Flint’s water is not safe it's an unreliable water

In the united states, Lead poisoning seems to be one of the most common and preventable environmental problem in children. When compared to the US borne children, Prevelance of this poisoing is 1.6%high in refugee kids.(2)

“…It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it's been linked to criminality, it has multigenerational impacts. There is no safe level of lead in a child." Dr. Mora said when she was talking about what lead poisoning does, and it is devastating, knowing that generations of kids are affected by this event and so will the next generation after them. This also could have been prevented if the state added anti- corrosive agents that would have cost about $100 a day, and experts say 90% of the problems with Flint's water would have been avoided. If officials would have done this then thousands of people would have been saved from

(Campbell, 2016). Two giants in childhood lead poisoning research and advocacy, Dr. Philip Landrigan and Dr. David Bellinger, summarize the adverse effects of lead very completely, yet succinctly: “Lead is a devastating poison. It damages children’s brains, erodes intelligence, diminishes creativity and the ability to weigh consequences and make good decisions, impairs language skills, shortens attention span, and predisposes to hyperactive and aggressive behavior. Lead exposure in early childhood is linked to later increased risk for dyslexia and school failure.”(p. 3).

St. Joseph, Missouri is a small town in Missouri that has been referenced to be named one of the three thousand cities that has a bigger problem with lead poisoning than Flint, Michigan. When children are exposed to lead poisoning it can have effects on their developmental delays, and other physical and mental impairments. In St. Joseph many of the older houses contained lead paint, windows, and plumbing. Of all of the children in St. Joseph one hundred and twenty or fifteen percent of the children that had been tested had extremely high levels of lead in their system. They have decided as a community it would be a great idea to get ready of all of the lead, they want to do this in and order that was safe for everyone and they would not

The author further goes on to explain what is being done about lead poisoning, and finally explaining how to know for sure if a person has lead poisoning and how to have your home tested for lead poisoning. The author pays great attention to detail by providing facts to support the information provided in the article. For example, the author states, "75% of houses and other buildings built before 1978 have lead-based paint. When the paint is in good condition it does not pose a threat. When it chips and peels however, it can make a child very ill" (Heck, Where does lead come from section, para. 1). This article clearly achieves its purpose, which is to inform the public about prevalence of lead and the ongoing risks associated with lead poisoning. This article is not about one specific case of lead poisoning, which is evident because the author talks about the history of lead use and the laws relating to lead use in this country.

Being from Saginaw, MI it is actually common knowledge that there are areas in the state that have very high levels of lead. What upsets me about this particular subject, is the fact that levels of lead poisoning in the children has been high for years. It has actually been common knowledge not only to myself, but various communities within Michigan as well.

The major sources of lead here were gasoline, paint chips and water from old plumbing. After lead was removed from gasoline and paint, blood lead levels (BLL) in children decreased on average from 16 mcg/dL to less than 3 mcg/dL. Residual lead persists in the environment, however. A toxic level is currently defined as 5 mcg/dL. In U.S. children age 1-5, the prevalence of BLLs >10 mcg/dL decreased from 88% to 4.4% between 1976 and 1994 and further dropped to 0.8% by 2010. Yet there are still almost half a million children in the U.S. with levels >5

The lead effects in the drinking water have caused a massive public health crisis (“Scientific Opinion on the risks”, 2015). The whole crisis was as a result of poor management practices employed in the Flint water plant. The city decided to switch the

In the 1950’s and 1960’s, lead poisoning was found to be prevalent in the slums of the inner cities. These areas were referred to as the "lead belt" because these run down houses were havens for lead exposure. The flaking paint on walls, the chipping plaster ceilings, and the old furniture exposed these children to a real hazard. Pica was an important contributing factor and children, ages 1 to 3 were at the greatest risk. Siblings in these situations were often affected and recurrence was common because the lead paint was not removed. The prognosis for these children became worse with each recurrence (Chisholm, 1982).

The devastation left behind after a natural hazard event has occurred is life altering. No one will argue how difficult it can be to deal with property damage, loss of loved ones, or unemployment after a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake strikes an area. What happens when these events produce unexpected environmental consequences? Imagine having just rebuilt a home or just completing construction and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knocks at the door. This is exactly what happened in 2011 to 1,091 residents in Joplin, Missouri after lead-contaminated soils surfaced due to demolition, excavation, and tree removal work after an F-5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22 (Whitley, 2011). Lead is a naturally occurring

issue that has affected over 50,000 people, an entire city, is the contamination of lead in the

Lead is a poisonous substance when consumed by humans, and can cause behavioral problems, learning disabilities, and kidney illnesses, among other complications. Corrosive, inadequately treated water from the Flint River had triggered the lead's release from old pipes in homes and schools. As the extent of the problem became apparent, many residents accused local and state officials of having failed to act early enough to alert the public to the poison, despite civilian complaints that their water smelled, looked, and tasted unusual.