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Mona Hanna-Attisha - What We Can Learn from Flint, Michigan - 10/16/18 — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:04welcome to the Westminster town hall
0:07forum where for 38 years we have engaged
0:10the public in reflection and dialogue on
0:13key issues of our day from an ethical
0:15perspective our hour-long forums are
0:18free and open to all and we invite you
0:20to join us in the sanctuary of
0:22Westminster Presbyterian Church for
0:24upcoming events information can be found
0:27at Westminster forum dot org or on
0:30Facebook Twitter and Instagram my name
0:33is Tim Howard Anderson I'm senior
0:34minister at Westminster Presbyterian
0:35Church located on Nicollet Mall in
0:38beautiful downtown Minneapolis and I'm
0:40the moderator of the forum it's my
0:42pleasure to introduce today's guest
0:44speaker dr. mona hanna-attisha is an
0:47associate professor of pediatrics at
0:49Michigan State University College of
0:52human medicine and a pediatrician at the
0:55hurley Children's Hospital in Flint
0:57Michigan in 2015 she was internationally
1:01recognized when her research exposed the
1:04high levels of lead in the blood of the
1:06children of Flint after its water supply
1:09was switched from Lake Huron to the
1:11Flint River during the previous year
1:14today she directs the Michigan State
1:16University in Hurley Children's Hospital
1:19pediatric public health initiative a
1:21program committed to researching
1:23monitoring and mitigating the impact of
1:26the Flint water crisis on children she
1:30is the recipient of the freedom of
1:31expression' Courage Award from Penn
1:34America and she has testified twice
1:37before the United States Congress her
1:40new book and the focus of today's
1:42presentation is what the eyes don't see
1:46a story of crisis resistance and hope in
1:50an American city ladies and gentlemen
1:53please join me in welcoming to the
1:54Westminster town hall forum dr. mona
1:56hanna-attisha
2:06thank you
2:16thank you it is great to be here in
2:19Minneapolis it is great to be here with
2:21all of you and I am so excited to share
2:24this story the story of crisis
2:28resistance and hope with all of you as
2:31you know by now the story of Flint is
2:35probably the most emblematic public
2:39health and environmental disaster of
2:41this young century it is the story of
2:45what happens when people who are charged
2:49with keeping us safe care more about
2:52money and power than they care about us
2:56or our children but Flint is just the
3:01tip of the iceberg
3:02Flint is not isolated the story of Flint
3:06and the story in my book is about the
3:08deeper crises that we are facing right
3:10now in our nation a breakdown in
3:14democracy the disintegration of critical
3:17infrastructure environmental injustice
3:21--is that disproportionately impact the
3:24poor and the black the disrespect for
3:28science which we are seeing every day
3:30and the abandonment of our civic
3:35responsibility and our deep obligation
3:37as human beings to care and provide for
3:42each other if we stop believing that
3:46government can protect our public
3:49welfare and keep all children safe not
3:53just our privileged ones what do we have
3:56left so I want to start by taking you
3:59back to a different Flint so before the
4:02water crisis what was Flint famous for
4:05cars we were in Michiganders in the
4:08audience
4:08awesome show me your hands point to
4:11where you're from it's people on the
4:13radio are missing out so everybody is
4:16holding up their mitten and they're
4:17pointing to that mitten where they're
4:19from we also have the Upper Peninsula
4:20which we forget about they're important
4:22too
4:23but before the water crisis Flint was
4:28known for cars so we are the birthplace
4:31of General Motors but more importantly
4:34than them being the birthplace of cars
4:35Flint is also the birthplace of the
4:38middle class in the 1930s the late 1930s
4:421936-1937
4:44auto workers were disobedient and they
4:47were resistant and they said we've had
4:49enough and we want a fair share of the
4:52economy so they sat down and occupied
4:55all of the car plants in Flint this was
4:57known as the great sit-down strike and
5:00for 44 days they sat in the cold
5:03Michigan winter kind of as cold here
5:05maybe not as cold as here in Minnesota
5:07and and they sat and they demanded
5:10occupational health and safety they
5:12demanded a living wage and it was
5:16unprecedented because the then governor
5:19of Michigan Governor Murphy and Franklin
5:22Roosevelt Roosevelt finally finally
5:24intervened they called in the National
5:27Guard but they didn't call in the
5:29National Guard to make sure the workers
5:31got back to work they called in a
5:33National Guard to protect the workers
5:34and for the first time the workers union
5:38was recognized the UAW and what came out
5:42of that was something called the grand
5:43bargain at Flint and that what it
5:47informed wages across the country for
5:49decades they received those living wages
5:52and pensions and benefits and great
5:54schools and great infrastructure and
5:56that spread throughout America and
6:00people all over the world came to Flint
6:03immigrants from all over African
6:05Americans from the great migration north
6:06came to Flint for great living wage jobs
6:10and that changed at one point in and it
6:15wasn't even too long ago the 1970s the
6:18people of Flint made the most money in
6:19the country they had the highest
6:21per-capita income in the country think
6:23about that the people of Flint now made
6:24the most money in the country right now
6:26we are the poorest city in the country
6:28and because of policy choices Flint has
6:32been in crisis really for decades
6:35we suffered from disinvestment
6:37unemployment poverty our children have a
6:4060% poverty rate in Flint violent crime
6:44the military special ops medics they
6:46trained in Flint because it's an
6:48essentially a war zone on our streets no
6:51grocery stores almost every disparity
6:54you can imagine we have in Flint so much
6:57so that a child born in Flint has a
7:0015-year less life expectancy than a
7:04child born in a neighboring adjacent zip
7:07code 15 years and this is not unique to
7:10Flint all over this nation children are
7:12waking up where their entire life course
7:15trajectory is predicted by their
7:17environment and their situations of
7:19birth and this is this is this is my job
7:23so I'm a pediatrician and my job my job
7:26is is preserving the dreams of our
7:28children yet in Flint our children were
7:31waking up to nightmares not only all of
7:34this socio-economic stuff but what was
7:38happening in our water was threatening
7:41the tomorrow's of literally all of our
7:44children so unless you've been kind of
7:46underwater over the last few years
7:48you've heard about the Flint water
7:49crisis and you remember seeing those
7:52pictures of brown water coming out of
7:54people's taps and I didn't even believe
7:56it at first I mean how can that be this
7:59is America the richest country in the
8:02history of the world this is the 21st
8:05century this is not like 19th century
8:08London with raging cholera epidemics
8:11this is Michigan surrounded by the Great
8:14Lakes surrounded by the largest source
8:16of fresh water in the world but despite
8:20all that there's rules and there is
8:21regulations and there's laws and this
8:23people right who wake up every day to
8:25make sure that when we turn on our tap
8:28our water is safe for our children to
8:31drink so patients would come see me in
8:35the clinic and they would ask me is this
8:38is it okay for me to mix my baby's
8:40powdered formula with this water and I
8:44said of course it is how can our water
8:45not be okay
8:46are you sure my daughter should be
8:49drinking water instead of pop yeah yeah
8:51it glasses water a day
8:53my baby gets a rash whenever I put her
8:56in this water I'm sure it's okay
8:58I was also blind to what was happening
9:03with our children and with our water so
9:08how did this happen
9:09so Flint was in this dire economic state
9:13and in Michigan if you are near
9:15bankruptcy as a city the state can swoop
9:18in and take over so in 2011 Flint lost
9:22democracy overnight we were under the
9:24control of financial emergency
9:26management and we had a series of
9:28emergency managers and their only job
9:31was austerity to save money no matter
9:34what the cost and they decided that the
9:37water that we had been getting from the
9:39Great Lakes for half a century fresh
9:41pretreated water was too expensive for
9:44this poor predominantly minority
9:46community and that to save a buck we
9:49would start drawing water from the local
9:51Flint River as a temporary move until a
9:54new pipeline to the Great Lakes was to
9:56be built and what was wrong was that the
10:00Flint River water wasn't being treated
10:02properly it was missing an important
10:05ingredient called corrosion control and
10:07as a doctor I think of it like a
10:10medicine that you're you put in the
10:11water treatment to prevent the pipes
10:14from corroding and without that
10:16ingredient our water was 19 times more
10:20corrosive than the water that we had
10:22been getting from the Great Lakes it was
10:25so corrosive that just a few months into
10:28this water switch General Motors which
10:31was born in Flint noticed that this
10:33water was corroding their engine parts
10:36so they got a free pass and they got to
10:38go back to the Great Lakes but the
10:41people of Flint were literally told to
10:43relax that everything was okay Jesse
10:49Jackson called Flint a crime scene
10:51Michael Moore who was who was from Flint
10:53said the water crisis was not a mistake
10:56that it never would have happened in a
10:58or wider city but there's another side
11:02of this story and there is another side
11:05of Flint and it is the reason I wrote
11:07this book and it's the reason I am here
11:09today because the story of Flint is also
11:13a story of how we came together and how
11:16we fought back and how we resisted when
11:20I heard about the possibility of lead in
11:23the water
11:24any pediatrician anybody in public
11:26health would rightly freak out we know
11:29what lead does it's a potent silent
11:32irreversible neurotoxin we have known
11:35what lead does for centuries and we are
11:38at a point where incredible science has
11:39told us that there is no safe level of
11:42lead impact children's cognition
11:45behavior leads to developmental
11:46disorders it's even been linked to
11:48things like criminality levels that we
11:51thought were ok decades ago when we had
11:53lead in paint and gasoline we now know
11:56are not ok and we also know that lead is
11:59a form of environmental injustice also
12:02known as environmental racism our Flint
12:05kids are already had higher blood levels
12:07just like kids in Detroit and Chicago
12:10and Milwaukee in Philadelphia some of
12:13our country's most vulnerable children
12:15who are already rattled with so many
12:18toxic stresses already have higher rates
12:21of lead exposure so when I heard about
12:24the possibility of lead in the water I
12:26knew I needed to prove the impact I knew
12:30I needed the data to see if that lead in
12:33the water was getting into the bodies of
12:34our children and in Rapid detective
12:38style speed we did that research and
12:41that's that's all in the book and I love
12:42to share
12:44Oprah put the book on her summer reading
12:45list and said it had the gripping
12:47intrigue of a Grisham thriller so who
12:50knew like science was such a page-turner
12:52like obviously it is
12:55so in in rapid around the clock speed we
12:58did the research and we found that the
13:00percentage of kids with elevated blood
13:02levels doubled in the city nothing was
13:05happening outside of the city and where
13:07the water led levels were the highest we
13:09saw the greatest increase in children's
13:11lead levels and this is where I did
13:13something that doctors and scientists
13:15don't usually do when we do when we have
13:18we do research we publish in journals
13:20and we go to conferences and that takes
13:22time and it has to go through that peer
13:24review process and our kids in Flint did
13:27not have another day so I walked out of
13:30my clinic and I stood up at a podium
13:32just like this but it was a lot shorter
13:34they didn't have a stool for me and I'm
13:35really sharp and I shared the research
13:38that our children were in harm's way and
13:40that we needed to act and right away
13:44just like everybody else in the story
13:46the moms and the pastors and the
13:48activists and the scientists right away
13:50the state went after me they said I was
13:54wrong that I was an unfortunate
13:56researcher that I was causing near
13:59hysteria which is also sexist that I was
14:03splicing and dicing numbers and that
14:05their numbers were not consistent with
14:07our numbers with my numbers and for a
14:10moment I believed them and I thought to
14:13myself why didn't I just stay busy as a
14:16pediatrician as a residency director as
14:19a mom as a wife why didn't I just stay
14:21in my own busy bubble why did I have to
14:23get into this mess why did I open my
14:25eyes and that lasted briefly and I
14:32quickly quickly realized that this had
14:33nothing to do about with me but
14:36everything to do with my kids as a
14:39pediatrician I have literally taken an
14:42oath to protect children and to be their
14:46advocate to be their healer and protect
14:50her and my research was based on numbers
14:53but those weren't numbers those were
14:55kids every number was a kid and those
14:59kids gave me courage to get back in this
15:02fight and we fought back with more
15:04numbers and more science and more
15:05evidence and
15:06finally the state conceded and the maths
15:10man-made crisis was exposed and within a
15:14few weeks we were back on Great Lakes
15:17water but to this day in Flint we are
15:21still on filters and bottled water as
15:24our damaged lead pipes are being
15:25replaced but I get to spend my everyday
15:29privileged to continue serving our
15:33children we are building a model public
15:35health program leaning on the incredible
15:38science of child development brain
15:41plasticity resilience to buffer the
15:43impact of this crisis and sometimes I
15:46say that I'm writing prescriptions for
15:48hope but what we are doing is real and
15:52it's tangible it's things like home
15:54visiting programs breastfeeding support
15:56to brand new child care centers near
15:58universal preschool school health
16:00services Medicaid expansion
16:02trauma-informed care behavioral health
16:05services mindfulness in schools mobile
16:07grocery stores and the list goes on and
16:10on and we're also working on the bigger
16:13things that kids need things like jobs
16:15and economic development and
16:19participatory democracy and restorative
16:22justice and self-determination we are
16:26committed to tipping the scales for our
16:29kids in Flint and what we hope to do is
16:33share what we are doing with kids
16:36everywhere because Flint is not alone
16:40there are children all over this country
16:43black brown white urban rural who are
16:47waking up to the same nightmares the
16:50same toxicities of lost democracy
16:54austerity injustice discrimination but
16:59it doesn't have to be this way for our
17:01kids these are choices that we have made
17:04as a nation largely policy choices
17:09sometimes when I when I hear the news
17:12each day I I think we are almost at war
17:16with our children the news is
17:19devastating
17:20children sobbing in detention facilities
17:22where our government is forcibly taking
17:25them away from their parents kids
17:27slaughtered in their own schools because
17:29of our inaction on gun violence our
17:33childhood poverty rate is the worst of
17:35any industrialized nation a generation
17:39of mass incarceration has robbed
17:41children of their parents the dismissal
17:44of science especially in our
17:47environmental laws and climate change
17:49will literally make catastrophic the
17:51world that our children and their
17:53children will live in and as a
17:55pediatrician I know the medical and the
17:58public health consequences of these
17:59policies they are all traumas and
18:03childhood trauma especially repetitive
18:06trauma leaves lifelong scars an altar is
18:11really their entire life course
18:12trajectory leading to things like
18:14developmental delays and chronic
18:16diseases and decreased life expectancy
18:19so one of my favorite quotes in this
18:22book is from Charles Dickens in Great
18:25Expectations he wrote in the little
18:28world in which children have their
18:30existence there is nothing so finally
18:33perceived and so finely felt as
18:36injustice it may be only small injustice
18:40that the child can be exposed to but the
18:44child is small and its world is small
18:49but we are not talking about small in
18:52justices here these are large and
18:55justices invading the small worlds of
18:58our children and they need large
19:01interventions to heal them to protect
19:05them as I said earlier as a pediatrician
19:08I took that oath to protect kids but I
19:12would argue and challenge you that you
19:15all took that oath as civil rights
19:19lawyer Brian Stevenson said who was here
19:22I heard recently you don't judge a
19:24society by how they treat the rich the
19:27powerful the privileged it is how we
19:30treat the most vulnerable among us
19:32we define ourselves as a society today
19:36we are once again faced with a question
19:38of what kind of society we wish to be
19:42and this is where we can learn from
19:45Flint yes the story of Flint is a story
19:50of a crime committed with absolute
19:53indifference against some of the most
19:55vulnerable people in our country but it
19:59is also a story about how everyday
20:01people moms and grandparents and pastors
20:05and journalists and scientists said
20:08we've had enough and took action for
20:11their kids and that gets to my favorite
20:15part of the story because it's not about
20:17me it's about you it's about all of us
20:21it's about who we are and who we want to
20:26be the title of my book is what the eyes
20:30don't see and it is so far beyond just
20:34Flint because it is about people and
20:36prate places and problems all over that
20:40we choose not to see but I hope it is a
20:43rallying cry to remind us that it is our
20:46responsibility to open our eyes and each
20:50other's eyes to these problems but being
20:54awake is not enough we must take action
20:56for what is right to care and provide
21:00for each other especially our children
21:03and that means all of us has a role to
21:06play no matter who you are or where you
21:09live or what you do or how you came to
21:13this country so this book is also an
21:15immigrant story I came to this country
21:17when I was four fleeing the regime of
21:20Saddam Hussein fleeing dictatorship and
21:23tyranny and fascism and my family and I
21:26came to this country for freedom and
21:28opportunity and democracy and that
21:31American dream was absolutely realized
21:33for me and my family and that is
21:36unapologetically and proudly weaved into
21:39this story because we are at a time in
21:42our nation where we need a reminder of
21:44good immigrant stories so thank you
21:56so as Martin Luther King said whatever
21:59ship brought us here I definitely came
22:02on a different ship well whatever ship
22:04brought us here we are all in the same
22:07boat we can work together to create a
22:10better safer world so I challenge all of
22:14you to come together to each be a piece
22:17of the answer not just for Flint but
22:19places like Flint which are all over our
22:22kids everywhere are counting on all of
22:25you thank you guys
22:26[Applause]
22:56Thank You dr. hanna-attisha you're
22:58listening to the Westminster town hall
23:00forum broadcast from Westminster
23:02Presbyterian Church Nicollet Mall in
23:04downtown Minneapolis my name is Tim Hart
23:07Anderson I'm the senior minister here at
23:09Westminster Presbyterian Church and
23:10moderate over the forum our speaker
23:13today is pediatrician and activist dr.
23:16mona hanna-attisha while the ushers
23:19collect questions from the in-house
23:21audience I'd like to thank our broadcast
23:23partner the statewide network of
23:25Minnesota Public Radio News heard in the
23:28Twin Cities at 91.1 FM and the media
23:32sponsor of today's forum the online news
23:34source men Post we invite you to join us
23:37at Westminster church for our next forum
23:40on Tuesday November 13 one week after
23:43the midterm elections when presidential
23:45historian Michael Beschloss will explore
23:48the topic president's of war visit our
23:52website Westminster forum org for
23:54further information and now dr.
23:56hanna-attisha if you would return to the
23:58pulpit I will present the questions from
24:00the audience I'm interested in the quote
24:04you you had actually the title of the
24:06book where the eyes don't see I think
24:08the rest of it is the mind won't know or
24:10can't know the eyes don't see what the
24:12mind doesn't know doesn't know okay and
24:15you apply that quote throughout the book
24:17to your work in medical research but to
24:20me it also has to do with the Democratic
24:23issues absolutely in terms of what you
24:26faced and trying to come to terms with
24:28change in your community can you
24:30describe that well sure so the quote is
24:32a D H Lawrence distillation the eyes
24:35don't see what the mind doesn't know and
24:37I first heard that phrase as a pediatric
24:40resident during my training when one of
24:43our professors attendings would always
24:45drill us we'd have a complicated case a
24:47patient in the hospital we were doing
24:49rounds and when we couldn't figure out a
24:51diagnosis or we couldn't we didn't have
24:53a long enough list of a differential
24:55which is like possible diagnosis he
24:57would yell at us and he'd say the eyes
24:59don't see what the mind doesn't know
25:01saying you all need to go home and read
25:03more
25:04and it has so many kind of it means so
25:08much in this book because it's the very
25:11literal we don't see Latin water it's
25:13invisible our eyes also don't see the
25:16consequences of lead poisoning it's
25:18known as a silent pediatric epidemic
25:20people don't show up with symptoms but
25:22very much it also speaks to my blindness
25:25I have taken care of dozens and dozens
25:28of children with lead poisoning I didn't
25:30even know that there was the lead in our
25:32plumbing before this water crisis which
25:34is so ironic because who knows what the
25:37word lead means what's the elemental
25:40symbol of lead PB comes from the Latin
25:43plumbum which means plumbing so lead
25:44actually means plumbing and so you know
25:48I had my own blindness and I was also
25:50awoken but yet it also very much kind of
25:54refers to the population that we chose
25:57not to see so Flint was being ignored it
26:00was being neglected by policy makers by
26:03bureaucrats and and you know it was our
26:05work that helped kind of bring it to
26:06light what caused the Flint River water
26:10to be so corrosive it the city had good
26:13water and there's a dramatic photo in
26:16the book where you the mayor is flipping
26:18the switch to move from Lake Huron water
26:20to Flint River water what was wrong with
26:22the Flint River walk yes so the Flint
26:24River has a history of manufacturing and
26:28legacy pollution it actually has caught
26:30on fire twice in its history but it's
26:32gotten a lot cleaner with the Clean
26:35Water Act the fault of of the water was
26:38not the Flint River the Flint River
26:40would have been okay to use difficult to
26:43manage but it would have been okay to
26:45use if it was treated properly so it was
26:48not treated with something called
26:50corrosion control that ingredient to
26:54prevent the corrosion was not added to
26:56the Flint River water treatment and that
26:59was despite it being unnecessarily a
27:01federally mandated ingredient and even
27:03when the EPA told the state you need to
27:05add this this ingredient they would fuse
27:07to from a scientific perspective what
27:11can we do to hold our cities accountable
27:13for pollutants in the
27:15so I think that's the whole point of the
27:18book is is what role do we all have to
27:21play as in art as citizens being
27:24civically engaged so just keep asking
27:27questions
27:28keep digging ask to see know you know
27:31the results and the tests he the this
27:34this story is also a story of the power
27:36of teams so I I didn't do this work
27:39alone and one of the reasons I didn't
27:41want to write this book I'm like this is
27:42not a story about me it is a story about
27:45all these folks that came together from
27:48you know like I said mom's and
27:49journalists and water scientists and
27:51activists to uncover this and when you
27:53are part of a larger team you you are
27:57more powerful at uncovering these issues
27:59so sometimes we think we are fighting
28:01these struggles alone via you know water
28:03quality or pollution issues or other
28:06justice issues there's folks out there
28:08that are also fighting the same
28:09struggles and one of the lessons of this
28:11book is that my team was as diverse as
28:14possible we so often have isolated
28:18ourselves with people who look like us
28:19and think like us and vote like us and
28:21my best friend in this in this crisis
28:24was a water engineer from Virginia who
28:27was tall and white and voted differently
28:29than me and he cared about kids probably
28:32more than I cared about kids so get out
28:35of our silos get out of our bubbles and
28:38find those people who care about things
28:40as much as you do and you will be so
28:42much more powerful you also I think
28:45point out on the book that the mayor of
28:46Flint whom you're expected to be an ally
28:50in the struggle wasn't and he was from
28:53one political party the state was
28:55controlled by another political party so
28:57in terms of this being a nonpartisan
28:59issue or a partisan issue it really
29:02turned out to be a matter of democracy
29:05in some ways and democracy not working
29:07in that community exactly so we did have
29:09a mayor in Flint but the mayor had no
29:11power the mayor and the City Council
29:14were under had had no role they were
29:18just figureheads because everything was
29:20under the control of the emergency
29:21manager so initially we did present our
29:24research to the sitting mayor
29:26but he didn't respond he didn't do
29:28anything and he and he couldn't do
29:29anything because the emergency manager
29:31directly reported to the governor so a
29:34big lesson of the story is the power of
29:36democracy is the is the need to have
29:40voices at the table and no matter how
29:43messy no matter how loud it is people
29:47need to have representation a number of
29:51questions coming forward about you being
29:54a woman of being up against an
29:55establishment do you think the state
29:57would have responded differently if you
29:58were a white male I don't know so I
30:04mentioned the water scientists from
30:06Virginia Mark Edwards he is tall white
30:09good-looking and he was also attacked
30:11they called him a magician that he was
30:14pulling rabbits out of hats so I don't
30:16know they were anybody who raised any
30:18concerns about this water crisis was
30:20being attacked but obviously like I
30:22mentioned earlier there was you know
30:24some sexist comments in their attacks of
30:26me the the near hysteria not only
30:29attacking kind of my my credibility but
30:31also the science I know you said the
30:33book is not about you and the story is
30:35not about you but it is in a way about
30:38you
30:39because of who you are and what you
30:41wouldn't take which and I did write the
30:44book so yeah it was it us senator the
30:48describe us and I don't like using this
30:50language what's badass that was Rachel
30:53Maddow
30:54okay
31:00[Music]
31:02that's best compliment ever so how did
31:07you leverage your you know the research
31:11results which is technical stuff how did
31:13you leverage that to to make change in
31:15the system
31:15so as a pediatrician it's it's always
31:19been in my job description to be an
31:21advocate we are I was trained and I
31:25trained my trainees that you have to use
31:28your voice to speak up for children
31:30especially when the voices of your
31:32children have been silenced and muffled
31:34and even before this water crisis I
31:36would take my pediatric residents every
31:38year to our state capital and we meet
31:40with legislators and we talk about
31:41immunizations and gun control and other
31:43things affecting children so all of this
31:46work has been through through that hat
31:50as a pediatrician through that very
31:52nonpartisan hat but very political hat
31:55because that's what advocacy often is of
31:57being the voice for children this is
32:00what children need this is the science
32:02and this is what needs to be done when
32:05the state finally conceded we you know
32:07had many conversations with the governor
32:08we framed kind of the water crisis as an
32:12added toxic stress on top of so many
32:15toxic stresses and that's why we need
32:17things like child care and literacy
32:19support and Medicaid expansion and then
32:21when he spoke at his State of the State
32:22address he actually said toxic stress
32:24and child development so people are like
32:28and then others are like well how do you
32:29work with what the governor you know he
32:30should be in jail I'm like I my
32:32constituency is children and I will work
32:35with whoever is an office whoever
32:37controls the purse strings to make sure
32:39that kids get what they need so you have
32:42to let children and kind of science be
32:44your guide speaking of being in jail
32:46some of your allies described Flint as a
32:50crime scene was anyone criminally
32:53indicted and had they gone to prison for
32:56this yeah there's been many criminal
32:59charges there's been about 18 criminal
33:00charges against different folks which is
33:03great
33:04it's there all in process I talked a lot
33:07about lead that was one of one part of
33:10the crisis we also had one of the
33:11largest outbreaks of Legionnaires
33:13disease which is a pneumonia that older
33:15people can get at least 12 people died
33:17and there was an uptick in pneumonia
33:19mortality so that head of for example
33:22our state health department has been
33:23charged with negligent homicide
33:25including some of the emergency managers
33:27all of these trials are in process
33:30there's also been many other
33:32investigations the EPA had their own
33:34investigation was also showed that they
33:37were at fault they should have acted
33:38seven to nine months sooner the Civil
33:41Rights Commission had an investigation
33:42which also clearly stated that this was
33:44a form of environmental injustice with a
33:46demographics of the population
33:48contributed to the crisis so there have
33:50been and there continued to be ongoing
33:52investigations and that is critically
33:54important for the city I view it as a as
33:57a truth and reconciliation process you
33:59need the accountability you need to know
34:01what happened then as a role for
34:03reparations and then that really long
34:06process of healing can continue what's
34:10the current status of Flint and its
34:12water system and the infrastructure
34:14problems that were unearthed in this in
34:16this process yeah so like I said Flint
34:18is a tip of the iceberg there are
34:20infrastructure issues all over this
34:22nation we think our roads and our
34:24bridges are bad what's underneath is
34:26much worse Flint is going to be the
34:29third city that has replaced their lead
34:31lines we are halfway through that
34:33process the two other cities in the
34:35country that have replaced their lead
34:37lines are Madison Wisconsin and and
34:39Lansing Michigan and Flint will be the
34:41third that will be completed by the end
34:43of 2019 which is pretty amazing the
34:47other cities that took them over a
34:48decade but this is work that every city
34:50needs to do we were stubbornly slow as a
34:54nation to restrict the use of lead
34:56because of their strong lobbying
34:58organization of their industry we didn't
35:01restrict the use of lead in our lines or
35:03our main service lines until 1986 but
35:06not until 2014
35:08did we restrict it in brass fixtures so
35:12our Flint schools had some of the
35:13highest water lead levels and the
35:15birds and thousands of parts per billion
35:17but they didn't even have any led lines
35:18it was coming out of the brass fixtures
35:20and those had to be replaced with
35:22fixtures that were built after 2014 so
35:25you know week after week we are hearing
35:27about cities and schools that are
35:29testing and finding led in the water
35:31where and our regulations have not
35:33caught up with the science and and
35:35there's nothing in them to actually
35:36protect schools and child care
35:38facilities so Flint is replacing their
35:40lead pipes and that were damaged with
35:43this corrosive water the folks at the
35:45EPA said it was like drinking through a
35:47lead painted straw the pipes were so
35:49eaten up and you never knew when a piece
35:51of that lead scale was gonna come and
35:53into the drinking water so because of
35:57this earthmoving infrastructure work
36:00people have to remain on precautions
36:02because when you do this groundwork it
36:04disrupts the lead scale that's
36:06underneath and it can increase release
36:08but but by and large the water quality
36:10has dramatically improved but the
36:12precautions are in place because of the
36:14infrastructure work and where's the
36:16funding coming from for the
36:18infrastructure repair so the funding is
36:20coming from a blend of state and federal
36:22resources there was a flint bill that
36:24did pass the US Congress in December 26
36:27that includes much of the funding for
36:29that pipe replacement work as well as
36:31some state dollars for that pipe
36:32replacement work the funding for all the
36:35awesome stuff that we're doing for
36:36children is is blended it is from state
36:40federal but a large role is philanthropy
36:42another reason I wrote this book was
36:44because part of the proceeds go to our
36:46Flint kids fund Flint kids org which is
36:49funding the breastfeeding programs and
36:51the early literacy promotion and the
36:53home based services and the visiting
36:55programs and what have you
36:56and that has not been garnered for our
36:58long-term recovery are there other
37:01cities in the country that you know of
37:03who have similar problems to Flint's in
37:05terms of water supply
37:06sure absolutely so Flint is not isolated
37:09nothing as egregious it was what
37:11happened in Flint where the entire city
37:12wasn't treated properly and it went on
37:14for so long but Flint is not the first
37:16time that we've had such a crisis in
37:19this book I talk about Washington DC
37:21which a decade ago had a very similar
37:23lead and water crisis which was which
37:26covered up for a long time but
37:28throughout history there have been LED
37:30in water crises the place of my birth is
37:33actually Sheffield England and in the
37:341890s they had a lead and water crisis
37:37they noticed a lot of the pregnant moms
37:39lost their babies because they drank
37:42that water and because of that in the
37:44early 1900's they invented the first one
37:47of the first abortion pills that was a
37:48lead pill and that was published in the
37:51British Medical Journal so for over a
37:53hundred and fifty years we have had
37:55documented lead and water crises we
37:57talked about the word lead coming from
37:59the Latin plumbum the Romans used lead
38:02in their in their plumbing and their
38:03aqueducts and there's actually theories
38:05that hypothesize the demise of the
38:07Romans is because they use so much lead
38:09and their plumbing they also did crazy
38:10things like put it in their food not not
38:12a good idea but we've known about about
38:15the use of lead throughout it's mainly a
38:16Midwest northeast problem but because of
38:19its use and fixtures it's an everywhere
38:21problem now you described in your book
38:23what are commonly known as AC e average
38:26child of experiences and the lead
38:28situation for the children of Flint is
38:30one of those what are some of the other
38:31adverse child experiences particularly
38:34that you see as a pediatrician right so
38:36there's this growing recognition really
38:38I think the most important thing that's
38:40happening right now in pediatrics and
38:42public health is is the field of toxic
38:46stress and and aces which is adverse
38:49childhood experiences it is the
38:51recognition that what happens in early
38:53childhood really has this graded and
38:56predictable impact on a child's life
38:58course and the other aces or toxic
39:02stresses are things like exposure to
39:04violence living in poverty being abused
39:06and neglected lack of nutrition exposure
39:09to toxins you know the list goes on and
39:13on of these development debilitating
39:16conditions and when you have more and
39:19more of these toxicities especially in
39:21the critical window of your prenatal to
39:24preschool window which is when you you
39:26have the greatest rate of brain growth
39:28it impacts your risk of you know chronic
39:33disease substance abuse mental health
39:35disorders and has actually been linked
39:37to jury decreased longevity
39:39so if you have six or more of these aces
39:41your life expectancy actually will drop
39:4320 years but this is all based on like
39:46population level data not on individual
39:48people but the good thing about this
39:51this this knowledge that is increasingly
39:53based on science we also know kind of
39:56the neural pathways what happens to the
39:58immunological our home owns and the
40:01immune response and even genetics when
40:02were exposed to all these early
40:04toxicities the good thing is that it's
40:06modifiable and it gives us hope and that
40:09we can put in place the science-based
40:12interventions to to identify these early
40:15adversities but most importantly to
40:17buffer them and to limit them with
40:19parents supporting child supporting
40:22interventions and policies and that's
40:24what we're trying to do in Flint and
40:26what what are the impacts on the IQ loss
40:30of a child who is raised ingesting lead
40:33covered water yeah so this has been well
40:36studied what lead does to cognition and
40:39IQ and these this is also population
40:42level research so a population of
40:44children exposed to lead you see that IQ
40:47curve shift to the left that bell curve
40:50shifts to the left you have less a
40:52gifted student and you have more
40:54children who need special education
40:55services and this is at a population
41:00level it's not predictive for one child
41:02two children could have the same level
41:04lead level and one kid goes to Harvard
41:06and one kid needs special at their whole
41:07life you can't predictive predict it
41:09because there's other factors that come
41:11into play but when you control for the
41:13all those other factors the science is
41:16increasingly clear that there is not any
41:19level of lead that doesn't show a
41:21deleterious impact so that's how we have
41:24gotten to the point that there is no
41:26safe level of lead exposure and is there
41:28any therapy that can reduce the impact
41:30of that the cure for light exposure is
41:33prevention which is so much of what
41:35public health is so we are supposed to
41:37practice something that in public health
41:39is called primary prevention which means
41:41you're never supposed to expose a
41:43population to lead because there is
41:45there is no treatment however there's a
41:48lot that can be done to
41:49the impact of that exposure and that's
41:52exactly what we are doing in Flint it's
41:53it's one risk factor on top of many risk
41:57factors that children have here in
42:00Minneapolis we pride ourselves on having
42:02a very clean water comes out great is if
42:04it was fantastic
42:06yeah what you can't see so how can we as
42:15citizens here in Minneapolis learn
42:17something about the lead content in our
42:19water particularly for our children's
42:21public schools absolutely so ask
42:24questions ask to see their consumer
42:26confidence reports you can get your
42:28water tested contact your local water
42:31utility if you think you have an older
42:33home or plumbing that was put in place
42:35before 2014 and you have a vulnerable
42:38population so a child an infant
42:42especially an infant who is using this
42:43water to mix their formula or a pregnant
42:47mom I would go ahead and put a lead
42:49clearing filter on your kitchen sink the
42:52filters have to be certified for lead
42:54clearing they're certified by the
42:56National Sanitation foundation to clear
42:59lead there's other things that you can
43:00do you can run your water so whenever
43:04you don't use your water for a long time
43:05you're supposed to flush your water
43:07flush it put on the cold water flush it
43:10let it run until it gets really cold
43:12that's when you know you have water from
43:13the Maine you're also never supposed to
43:16use hot water for cooking or or drinking
43:20because hot water increases the leaching
43:22of lead from your plumbing so just those
43:25simple things in addition to a filter
43:27will decrease your risk the reason that
43:29schools and child care facilities are
43:31higher risk not only do they have
43:32children but they have long periods of
43:35non-use so weekends overnight summer
43:38breaks what have you and that creates
43:40more stasis in the water supply more
43:42pooling and they also have older
43:44facilities so schools all over are now
43:48testing and installing filtration
43:50devices Detroit Public Schools just
43:52turned off all their all their water
43:53supply and they were drawing these
43:55filtration systems Baltimore Schools has
43:57not turned on their water for 10 years
43:59because whenever they turned on they
44:00find lead
44:01and then they closed it so this isn't
44:04being increasingly recognized there is
44:06nothing in any federal law that governs
44:09the lead and water in schools so there's
44:11a there's a huge need if anything to
44:13learn from Flint to strengthen these
44:16environmental health regulations and we
44:18continue to advocate for them now we
44:20think of this largely as an urban
44:22problem and we've discussed it that way
44:24but one other listener says I was told
44:26of the very first doctor visit I had in
44:28southwest Minnesota don't drink the
44:31water this is a rural issue too because
44:34of farm chemicals so what can we do in
44:38the rural areas to stand up for clean
44:40water absolutely it's a rural area
44:42there's also folks who are well water
44:44which aren't governed by any of these
44:46rules and laws which are already lacks
44:48so I would just say continue to advocate
44:51continue to ask questions and you have
44:54power you have power in a couple weeks
44:56at the ballot box use that power vote
44:59vote
45:06town all foreign today as it always is
45:09comes from a sanctuary and I'm
45:11interested in what the faith community's
45:13involvement was in responding to the
45:15crisis in Flint where their allies are
45:17absolutely we have a very strong faith
45:19community we have an organization called
45:21the concerned pastors which our group of
45:24pastors who do a lot of advocacy they
45:25had been meeting with the governor for
45:27about a year and a half our pastors and
45:30our faith community were at the
45:31frontlines throughout this crisis not
45:33only in the exposing of the crisis but
45:35absolutely in their recovery and and
45:38being a safe place for people to come to
45:41be and to really get comfort because
45:44this was a trauma think of it like PTSD
45:46we talked about lead we talked about
45:47Legionnaires but by and large the
45:49biggest issue was was the psychological
45:52mental health trauma people were
45:54betrayed by every governmental agency
45:56that was supposed to protect them
45:58they're angry they're scared they feel
46:00guilty they're stressed and just those
46:03emotions in and of themselves can lead
46:05to poor outcomes so our faith community
46:07has been an incredible resource for for
46:10healing along the way in this process
46:13you had to confront critics of your
46:16scientific research and the results of
46:18your research and some of that was from
46:21politicians perhaps who didn't want to
46:23face the consequences of what you were
46:25uncovering some of it came from this
46:27sort of an anti intellectual anti
46:29science movement in our nation today how
46:33do you counter that as a scientist as a
46:35researcher yeah and I think that's why
46:37this book is so relevant for today the
46:39story so Flint is a story of absolute
46:41science denial you did not need my
46:44science the evidence that children were
46:46being poisoned by this water we had so
46:48much science even before that that was
46:50being denied General Motors you know
46:53corroding engine parts lead in the water
46:55this all the other concerns that were
46:58coming up so science was was literally
47:02disregarded and dismissed and denied and
47:05I do not have to tell you that this is a
47:07story that we are hearing every single
47:08day in regards to climate change in
47:11regards to the very regulations at the
47:13eat
47:14ei that protect our air and our water
47:16quality this is bathe all based on
47:18decades of great great science so I
47:22think part of the fault lies in us as
47:24scientists we have not been doing a good
47:26job communicating our science I was
47:29involved in the March for science I was
47:31one of the honorary co-chairs with Bill
47:33Nye which was really cool but the reason
47:37the reason that I participated because I
47:39want more doctors and scientists and
47:41academics to come out of their ivory
47:43towers to come out of their hospitals
47:45and their clinics and their exam rooms
47:47in their classrooms and do what science
47:49is meant to do which is benefit the
47:51public good and to share that science
47:53what I did when I came up to a press
47:55conference and chaired my science that
47:56was an academic no no I actually
47:59received from MIT a disobedience Award
48:01for that which was awesome but very hard
48:04to explain to my children that I got a
48:06disobedience award but but we need more
48:09scientists to get out of their comfort
48:11zones and realize that that you know
48:14their work is not based on publications
48:16and tenure and you know presentations
48:18but their work is based on on benefiting
48:21the public good and and so I hope that
48:25one of the lessons of this story is that
48:27more scientists are can do and will do a
48:30better job communicating their science
48:31and we're seeing that a little bit
48:32especially with with climate change and
48:34other things that are happening just
48:36last week the EPA let go their chief
48:40Children's Health scientists a doctor
48:42who was the head of the office of
48:44children's health protection the most
48:47preeminent pediatric health expert and
48:49they let her go in an effort to
48:51dismantle the evidence and the science
48:53of protecting children in the
48:55environment and and she's speaking up
48:56now she's she's speaking up publicly but
48:59about that what what that means to
49:00children in the environment so I hope
49:03you know it's a scary thing to do that
49:05it's scary just to speak up and go
49:07against your academic grain go against
49:09the status quo but it increasingly needs
49:12to happen you
49:20you're a product of the American
49:23educational system the best public
49:24schools but you're also an immigrant
49:31coming from a family with a long history
49:34of activism in other parts of the world
49:38and I wondered as you reflect on your
49:42family's history particularly how does
49:44that how did that influence you to be to
49:47be who you are today yeah so this is a
49:49story in my book and I always share it
49:51briefly so as a kid I always heard about
49:53my great uncle Nuri who pretty much
49:57spent most of his life on the run or in
49:59jail fleeing government officials
50:01somewhere and through the writing of
50:04this book we uncovered that he actually
50:07fought in the Spanish Civil War which we
50:10kind of knew about but we didn't know
50:11the details and we were able to use his
50:13nom de guerre his code name and we were
50:16received his full file from the Spanish
50:17Civil War so he was one of two Iraqis
50:20that went from Baghdad to Spain the
50:22other Iraqi happened to be in Iraqi Jew
50:24and they went to fight Franco they went
50:27to fight fascism they went to fight
50:29Nazis they went to fight for freedom and
50:32as a kid I always remember hearing
50:34stories about him he also went to
50:35Palestine to fight for Palestine
50:37independence when he was in Iraq he
50:39founded a group called the Association
50:41against imperialism and fascism like
50:43what it also MAME so so I often think
50:47about my great-uncle and think about
50:49this guy who who fought a borderless
50:52cause so it wasn't about country or race
50:55or religion but it was about freedom and
50:58justice know no matter where one is so I
51:02think that has definitely been passed on
51:04to me I'm in flint for those same
51:08reasons you know I could practice
51:09anywhere else but I'm in Flint because
51:12it's a way for me to serve and to give
51:14back to a community that that I'm
51:18privileged to you know use my competence
51:20and confidence to help so these are kind
51:23of part of my family story so I
51:25definitely wanted those stories to be
51:27weaved in this book so you wander
51:29that people that come from my part of
51:31the world also come from a long line of
51:33folks who are fighting for social
51:35justice in peace
51:44one last very quick question a yes or no
51:47have you ever considered running for
51:49political office I'm committed to the
51:53children of Flint right now
51:55thank you dr. mona hanna-attisha
51:58[Applause]
52:04you
52:05[Music]

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