Flint Water Crisis May Have Increased Miscarriage Rate Among Women In Town
Michigan health officials are carrying out an investigation on the effect of the lead-poisoned Flint River water on the miscarriage rate in the city.
Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha is one of the researchers who are looking into the possible connection between high level of lead exposure in the city's water supply and miscarriages in Flint. She was also the pediatrician who strongly warned residents to stop drinking water after tests yielded positive lead poisoning results.
For quite a while, residents were complaining of an unusual smell and taste of the water after the city decided to switch from Detroit-supplied water from Lake Huron to Flint's very own city-treated river water back in 2014.
"Lead exposure has maternal-fetal implications and it's been known to cause miscarriages, low-birth-weight babies. We are conducting research, to see if we had higher rates during this water period," explained Dr. Hanna-Attisha in an interview by MLive as quoted by Detroit Free Press.
As of this time, it's still premature to come up with conclusions without definite evidence as the Michigan Health Department is still probing deeper into the problem.
"It's something that our epidemiologists are looking at, because we know lead can have effects throughout the life course. We have 2013 data up on our website. The 2014 data will be tested soon. We pulled the 2014-2015 data for our epidemiologists to take a look at," said Dr. Jennifer Eisner of the Michigan state Health and Human Services Department as stated in a CNN report.
In a separate and related development, Flint city officials are currently under fire for filing false reports regarding the extent of the city's water crisis.
According to MLive report, the records submitted by the city to state regulators showed only 8 of 68 sample sites known to have been contaminated with lead which may have seriously underestimated the extent of water contamination in the economically depressed city.
