Justice

For Flint Kids, Lead Exposure Doesn't Have to Spell Destiny

Education, good nutrition, and health care can attenuate some effects of the water crisis.

Flint resident Jaylon Terry, 10, right, and other Flint residents sit in the audience during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Flint water crisis. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

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March 22, 2016 at 5:31 PM EDT

Loui Brezzel’s young son has autism, and she says his learning disabilities have gotten worse over the last six months. One of Leeanne Walters’ 5-year-old twins was recently diagnosed with ADHD. Melissa Mays says her 17-year-old son, a straight-A student, has been lately complaining of brain fog and memory loss.

These are just a few of the parents I’ve spoken with who’ve lived through the water crisis in Flint, watching their kids develop mental issues that weren’t there before the city switched its water supply to the corrosive Flint River in 2014. The percentage of children with elevated blood lead levels—at or higher than five mcg/dL—doubled from 2.4 to 4.9 percent between 2013 and 2015, according to research by Mona Hanna-Attisha at Flint’s Hurley Medical Center.

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