Yahoo Lead Story: Lead Poisoning in (Ludington) Is Even Worse Than It Is in Flint

[XLFD]

In 2013, pristine Mason County was easily leading the state in the rate of children with elevated levels of lead in their blood.  Genessee County, where Flint is located had 2.2% of their children tested have elevated levels, Mason County had 11% of their kids test that way.  The City of Ludington itself had even higher levels at 12.7%. 

Since then, Flint's rate has nearly tripled to 6.4% and it has become a rallying cry against removing our sitting governor, Rick Snyder, for his malfeasance for possibly knowing that his appointed Emergency Financial Manager in Flint may have played a part in it. 

Here in Ludington, it needs to become a rallying cry to remove the current city manager, John Shay, from his post for his long-term neglect of our city's water problems, detailed extensively in this website.  He has direct oversight over this problem as our city's manager, and yet his part remains, like lead poisoning, hidden and unaccounted for.  

In today's Yahoo News feed the following article appears as it's lead (pronounced 'leed') story, mentioning Ludington as one of the other Michigan cities home to high blood-lead level rates.  If this is what you want Ludington to be famous for, keep John Shay and his covert policies of neglect in power.

The water crisis in Flint has whipped America into a state of righteous outrage, but just look at the rest of Michigan: In at least 30 zip codes in more than 13 cities across the state, elevated levels of lead have been detected in a shocking percentage of local children — sometimes at almost five times the rate of kids in Flint, according to the The Detroit News.

The numbers add a grim layer to an already-devastating story. While Flint struggles to recover, as many as 20% of kids under 6 years old tested in parts of Detroit — and between 7% and 12% in parts of Saginaw, Ludington, Lansing, Highland Park, Grand Rapids, Hamtramck and a handful of other cities in the state — had elevated levels of lead in their blood as recently as 2013, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 

The percentage of children in Flint who had comparable levels peaked at 6.4% at the end of 2015, Mother Jones reports.

Lead poisoning is irreversible and causes a host of developmental problems in kids. These include poor motor skills, learning delays, difficulty articulating speech and problems controlling behavior. While the extreme government neglect and deceit in Flint made what’s happening there its own unique horror story — residents have been exposed to toxic drinking water for more than a year — statistics from across the state reveal lead poisoning is hardly an isolated issue.

 

The reasons for exposure in Michigan differ from place to place. Whereas in Flint the lead comes from old and corroding water pipes, the culprit in most other areas in the state is much more common: paint. In 1977, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission outlawed the use of lead-based paint on toys, furniture and other products, including house paint. But many homes built before then are still coated with the stuff. And as time passes and the paint chips and peels, the dust it kicks up is inhaled by the people around it, poisoning them.

The result is a crisis the state of Michigan has spent millions of dollars trying to solve. Their methods — including varying approaches to lead abatement — have led to a significant drop in lead levels in children’s blood across the state over the last few years, according to the Center of Michigan.

[stump]

It would be interesting to see the water analysis for the water taken from lake Michigan for our potable/drinking water. What contaminants come into the plant and what comes to us. There must be daily, weekly monthly reports going back for years. Looking at the water flow from the bayou, it flows out into PM lake,PM lake flows into lake Michigan and its pollutants flow with the water currant which ever way the wind is blowing. Summer, water flow to the north, winter to the south.

[XLFD]

I have a pending FOIA request for wastewater plant testing with the city.  I'll be doing more research as time allows. 

[Jasper]

In Sunday's printed edition of the Grand Rapids Press there was a lengthy article about Flint and other Cities concerning the lead problem.  There was a chart from the MI DEQ showing numbers of parts per billion and the City of Ludington had a zero(0).  So, what is up with the rest of the data showing otherwise.

Don't know if this article is available on-line.  Anybody else grab the Sunday Grand Rapid's Press and read this?

[XLFD]

If you can scan that in that would be good, because that would seem to be erroneous according to the data.  The best I could find is a Kalamazoo Gazette article on Mlive that shows a map with Ludington and Scottville in the 5-10% range for 2014.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/02/thousands_of_michigan_c...

[Jasper]

XLFD A Private message was sent to you!!  Heads up!!