COVE

On May 4th of 2016, President Obama drank filtered water in Flint, Michigan to reassure the residents that the water was safe to drink, especially for kids 6 and up. The Flint residents' fears of drinking contaminated water were built up from the local and state mismanagement of when Flint, MI switched water sources for the local drinking water. The increased lead levels in Flint’s drinking water as a result of this switch did not get resolved swiftly. This exposed children, typically of single parent minorities, (Liévanos et al.) to the increased lead levels which is detrimental for their growth, “development of the central nervous system is easily derailed in ways that result in cognitive and behavioral abnormalities,” (Bellinger 1102). 

Sources:

Bellinger, David C. “Lead Contamination in Flint — an Abject Failure to Protect Public Health.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 374, no. 12, 2016, pp. 1101–1103., https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmp1601013.

Liévanos, Raoul S et al. “An Intercategorical Ecology of Lead Exposure: Complex Environmental Health Vulnerabilities in the Flint Water Crisis.” International journal of environmental research and public health vol. 18,5 2217. 24 Feb. 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18052217.