Virginia Tech Team Finds 'Serious' Lead Levels In Flint (1h 6min, sep 1, 2015 y – 9h 13min, jun 22, 2016 y)
Description:
A team from Virginia Tech tests hundreds of homes for lead in Flint, and says that "preliminary tests show 'serious' levels of lead in city water." "The levels that we have seen in Flint are some of the worst that I have seen in more than 25 years working in the field," Dr. Marc Edwards, a member of the Virginia Tech team, tells Michigan Radio. Officials such as MDEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel dismiss the Virginia Tech results. He tells Michigan Radio: "I don't know how they're getting the results they're getting. ... I know that it doesn't match with any of the other surveillance in the area."
In an email to MLive journalist Ron Fonger, Wurfel says:
"It's scientifically probable a research team that specializes in looking for lead in water could have found it in Flint when the city was on its old water supply. We won't know that, because they've only just arrived in town and quickly proven the theory they set out to prove, and while the state appreciates academic participation in this discussion, offering broad, dire public health advice based on some quick testing could be seen as fanning political flames irresponsibly. Residents of Flint concerned about the health of their community don't need more of that."
In a September interview with NPR, Edwards says: "Flint is the only city in America that I'm aware of that does not have a corrosion control plan."
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Rolondo Hall-case study freshwater and flint
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