Flint Contamination Crisis Had 'Horrifyingly Large' Effect On Fetal Deaths
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
New research shows that lead contamination of tap water in Flint, MI, likely had a major impact on fetal deaths.
A research study focused on health records from the city and the state found that “fertility rates decreased by 12 percent among Flint women, and fetal death rates increased by 58 percent” the Detroit Free Press reported.
David Slusky at Kansas University and Daniel Grossman at West Virginia University led the study. They called the fetal death result “horrifyingly large.” The researchers compared “birth and fetal death rates in Flint with those in other Michigan cities, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Dearborn and Detroit,” The Washington Post reported.
“These areas provide a natural control group for Flint in that they are economically similar areas and, with the exception of the change in water supply, followed similar trends in fertility and birth outcomes over this time period,” the authors wrote, per the Post.
Similar trends were uncovered in the aftermath of the lead contamination crisis in Washington, DC, early in the century.
“The paper's findings on fertility and fetal death rates largely mirror the effects observed in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2003. And the authors note that many effects probably fall outside the scope of the current research: The children born during this period were subsequently exposed to lead outside of the womb as well, potentially setting themselves up for a host of physical and behavioral problems later in life,” the Post reported.
Flint’s lead crisis, which left hundreds of children with high blood lead levels, followed the city’s switch from the Detroit water supply to Flint River water. When Flint changed sources, it became responsible for its own treatment processes. The city has since returned to Detroit water provided by the Great Lakes Water Authority.
For similar stories visit Water Online’s Drinking Water Contaminant Removal Solutions Center.
Image credit: "20161004-FNS-LSC-0039," U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2016. Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/