opinion

State data confirms higher blood-lead levels in Flint kids

Data that the State of Michigan released last week to refute a hospital researcher's claim that an increasing number of Flint children have been lead-poisoned since the city switched its water supply actually supports the hospital's findings, a Free Press analysis has shown.

Worse, prior to the water supply change, the number of lead-poisoned kids in Flint, and across the state, had been dropping; the reversal of that trend should prompt state public health officials to examine a brewing public health crisis.

Mona Hanna-Attisha, a researcher at Flint’s Hurley Medical Center, analyzed blood-lead level information collected as part of a routine screening process, and found that the percentage of Flint children with elevated blood-lead levels has increased significantly since the city started pumping water from the Flint River in April 2014. In some ZIP codes — those considered most at-risk — the percentage of kids affected by lead has doubled.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Angela Minicuci told the Free Press on Thursday that the increase was "seasonal and not related to the water supply."

And Hanna-Attisha acknowledges that there are seasonal bumps in lead exposure rates — lead in aging pipes is more likely to leach into water during the warmer summer months — but said they can't account for her findings.

In fact, the numbers that provide the basis for a chart the state released Thursday indicating seasonal changes support the Hurley data.

The Hurley data shows that percentage of kids under 5 with elevated lead-blood levels increased from 2.1% before the water supply switch to 4% after, across the city. In high-risk ZIP codes, the percentage of affected kids was larger, from 2.5% before the switch to 6.3% after.

The state's data, which includes a larger sample size of children under 16, show that before the switch to Flint River water, 2.37% of Flint kids had elevated blood-lead levels; after the switch, it was 3.21%, a significant increase not just because it's a reversal of the trend, but because it shows that a much larger percentage of Flint kids were lead-poisoned than in the previous year.

Despite the state's efforts to discredit the Hurley data, the state's own data show that there are a higher percentage of kids in Flint with elevated lead levels in their blood after the switch.

State data: More Flint kids under 16 lead poisoned after water change

Note: An asterisk(*) denotes the difference is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Each child is counted only once if they have elevated blood lead levels, only first time lead levels >= 5 micrograms per deciliter. Some children are counted in more than one year for testing.

Source: Free Press analysis of Michigan Department of Health and Human Services data

That's the percentage of kids with blood-lead levels of 5 or more micrograms per deciliter, an elevated level more likely to cause lasting damage. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that there is no safe blood-lead level for children.

Lead poisoning causes a host of developmental and behavioral problems in exposed children. It is irreversible.

The City of Flint switched its municipal water supply in April 2014, opting to pump water from the Flint River while a new system, the Karegnondi Water Authority, is under construction.

Since the switch, the quality of the city’s water has been compromised multiple times, first because of a surge in coliform bacteria and then because of a disinfectant added to mitigate that surge.

The new blood-lead level report documents the most serious health hazard posed since the switch.