Two, Three … Many Flints

Written on February 12th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on ZNet (first on TomDispatch),
by David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, Feb 11, 2016.

… The price tag for replacing the lead pipes that contaminated its drinking water, thanks to the corrosive toxins found in the Flint River, is now estimated at up to $1.5 billion. No one knows where that money will come from or when it will arrive. In the meantime, the cost to the children of Flint has been and will be incalculable. As little as a few specks of lead in the water children drink or in flakes of paint that come off the walls of old houses and are ingested can change the course of a life.

The amount of lead dust that covers a thumbnail is enough to send a child into a coma or into convulsions leading to death. It takes less than a tenth of that amount to cause IQ loss, hearing loss, or behavioral problems like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the government agency responsible for tracking and protecting the nation’s health, says simply, “No safe blood lead level in children has been identified.” President Obama would have good reason to worry if his kids lived in Flint. But the city’s children are hardly the only ones threatened by this public health crisis. There’s a lead crisis for children in Baltimore, Maryland, Herculaneum, Missouri, Sebring, Ohio, and even the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., and that’s just to begin a list.

State reports suggest, for instance, that “18 cities in Pennsylvania and 11 in New Jersey may have an even higher share of children with dangerously elevated levels of lead than does Flint.” Today, scientists agree that there is no safe level of lead for children and at least half of American children have some of this neurotoxin in their blood. The CDC is especially concerned about the more than 500,000 American children who have substantial amounts of lead in their bodies. Over the past century, an untold number have had their IQs reduced, their school performances limited, their behaviors altered, and their neurological development undermined. From coast to coast, from the Sun Belt to the Rust Belt, children have been and continue to be imperiled by a century of industrial production, commercial gluttony, and abandonment by the local, state, and federal governments that should have protected them. Unlike in Flint, the “crisis” seldom comes to public attention.

Two, Three… Many Flints: … //

… The Future of America’s Toxic Past: … //

… (full text, many related links).

(David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, TomDispatch regulars, are co-authors and co-editors of seven books and 85 articles on a variety of industrial and occupational hazards, including
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution and, most recently, Lead Wars: The Politics of Science and the Fate of America’s Children … // … This article first appeared on TomDispatch.com, a weblog of the Nation Institute, which offers a steady flow of alternate sources, news, and opinion from Tom Engelhardt, long time editor in publishing, co-founder of the American Empire Project, author of The End of Victory Culture, as of a novel, The Last Days of Publishing. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World, Haymarket Books).

Links:

World Bank punches South Africa’s poor – by ignoring the rich, on ZNet (first on The Conversation and Econ3×3), by Patrick Bond, Feb 11, 2016;

Hillary Sanders? Clinton singing Bernie’s tune on banks, campaign finance, on RT, Feb 11, 2016;

USA – Hudson River: Indian Point tritium leak 80% worse than originally reported [VIDEO], on RT, Feb 10, 2016;
Website Indian Point Energy, Updates;

Video on YouTube: Radiation leak near NYC, waters poisoned in Flint: how authorities are dealing with disasters, 8.02 min;

‘Sham reforms’: UK-funded watchdog in Bahrain fails to investigate torture allegations, on RT, Feb 10, 2016;

US-Florida: Tax time brings potential windfall and some cautions, on Orlando Sentinel, by Kate Santich, Feb 6, 2016;

5 tales of the new financial reality, on Examiner, by David Balog, Feb 6, 2016;

Clinton Sanders – Debate MSNBC FULL, 82.36 min, uploaded by Ari Bernays, Feb 4, 2016;

L’Arabie saoudite contre l’Iran, la plaque tectonique du pétrole de Qatif, dans Voltairenet.org, par Alfredo Jalife-Rahme, Févr 4, 2016: Il est d’usage dans la presse occidentale de prendre un air savant et d’expliquer la rivalité entre l’Arabie saoudite et l’Iran sur la base de rivalités religieuses (sunnites contre chiites) ou ethniques (arabes contre perses). Pourtant l’Histoire contredit cette interprétation, tandis qu’un coup d’œil sur la carte des hydrocarbures rend ce conflit limpide;

The OXFAM Inequality Report, Jan 2016:

… and this:

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